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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



GOSPEL TRUTHS 

Presenting Christ and the 
Christian Life 



By 
J. E. WHITTEKER, D.D., LL.D. 

President of 

the Theological Seminary of the 

Evangelical Lutheran Church at 

Chicago, Illinois 



The United Lutheran Publication House 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



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Copyright, 1922, by 

THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION OF THE 

UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH 

IN AMERICA 



Made in the United States of America 

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DEDICATION 

To the Members of Trinity Lutheran 
Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who 
gave devout audience as these sermons 
were preached from their historic pul- 
pit, this volume is dedicated — a grateful 
memorial to their many tokens of ap- 
preciation during Twenty Years of 
Pastoral Service. 



FOREWORD 

T^HIS little volume of sermons has been prepared in 
- 1 - response to repeated appeals from the people who 
heard them from the pulpit. With some slight discrimina- 
tion, they have been chosen from a cabinet of upwards of 
two thousand discourses. There has been little or no 
change, except where some purely local reference demanded 
it. In their preparation for pulpit use, two thoughts were 
constantly kept in mind : to preach Christ as the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life, with all their redemptive significance , 
and to implant in the minds and hearts of those who 
listened to their deliverance, those principles which underlie 
Christian character and conduct. There is no effort to 
develop distinctive doctrines ; yet every sermon aims to have 
some fundamental doctrine as its basic part. It is the 
living relations of the doctrine, the doctrine in actual life, 
that is designed, above all else, in this series. The heart 
right, the life in line with it; the doctrine sound, the 
practice conformed to it: such has been, throughout, the 
underlying thought. As this new volume goes forth with 
its message of truth and grace, may it be instrumental 
in quickening in the hearts of those who read it a deepening 
sense of spiritual certitudes and an increasing purpose to 
realize them in their lives. 

John Edwin Whitteker. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Influence of the Christian Life . . 9 

II. The Question with a Quibble 17 

III. The Hem of Christ's Garment 25 

IV. The Power of Christ 33 

V. The Poor : Their Care and Cure .... 41 

VI. The Mysteries of Grace 48 

VII. In the Mountain: on the Lake 56 

VIII. The Greatest in the Kingdom 64 

IX. Life: and How to Live It 72 

X. Promise and Practice 80 

XL The Resources of Faith 88 

XII. The Withered Hand, the Withered Heart . 96 

XIII. A Practical Christian Life 104 

XIV. The Spirit That Rejects 112 

XV. A Bad Man with Good Points 119 

XVI. The Religion of Curiosity 127 

XVII. The Service That Saves 135 

XVIII. Ashamed of Jesus 143 

XIX. The Three Men Who Did Not Follow Christ 151 

XX. Church Life and World Life 159 

XXI. The Ever-Present Future 167 

XXII. The Discernment of the Times 175 

XXIII. Repent Rather than Judge 183 

XXIV. Lost and Found 191 

XXV. The Bread of Life 199 

XXVI. Natural Sight and Spiritual Insight ... 207 

XXVII. The Truth Makes Free 215 

XXVIII. Jesus the Home Guest 223 

XXIX. We Would See Jesus 231 

XXX. The Troubled Heart . 239 

XXXI. The Vine and the Branches 247 

XXXII. Questions That Condemn 254 

7 



I 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN 

LIFE 

Matt. 5-13-16. Ye are the salt of the earth: but 
if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be 
salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be 
cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye 
are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill 
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it 
under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth 
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so 
shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

If Jesus had been a mortal like ourselves, His sayings 
would have been handed down as the most apt in any 
tongue: He certainly would have had a place among the 
sages. His parables, His illustrations, His figures, were all 
taken from the very heart of nature and made to fit every 
phase of human life. He could take the commonest thing 
and use it to simplify the lessons He taught: He could 
take the commonest event and make it serve a lofty spirit- 
ual purpose. And the tone was always a serious one — a 
sublime one. You never laugh when you read His parables : 
you never smile. The most frivolous person assumes the 
serious, sober attitude when he reads the sayings of Christ. 
He could not be frivolous in any case: he would choke if 
he were to try it. 

We are held spell-bound at what Jesus calls, " These 
sayings of Mine." "We never lose interest. Somehow, it 
all seems to come from heart to heart; and it binds heart 
to heart. Herein lies the charm, the fascination, the en- 
trancing influence. And that is why men said, " Never 
man spake like this man." Time has not diminished His 
power over the masses : distance cannot do it. His words 

9 



10 Gospel Truths 

enchain us as much as if He uttered them in our presence. 
I am led to this reflection because of the simplicity of the 
text as well as its power to illustrate the point He sets 
out to make: "Ye are the salt of the earth"; "Ye are 
the light of the world"; "A city set on a hill cannot be 
hid." This takes us into the realm of everyday life. 

1. "Ye are the salt of the earth." The chief quality 
of salt is to save : it is also pleasant to the taste. Its main 
use, however, is the preservative one: it is constantly em- 
ployed in the home for that purpose. And Jesus tells His 
disciples that they are salt. These poor fishermen — the 
world would rot if they were not in it. Ten righteous 
men would have saved Sodom. The Lord withheld His 
hand from blotting out Israel for Moses' sake. And we 
are saved for Christ's sake. The preservative power of 
the religion of Christ: wherever it enters, everything is 
better because of it. If every person in these United 
States were a Christian at heart, there would be no prison- 
houses, no reformatories, no criminal cases before our 
courts, no drunkards on our streets, no social evil, no di- 
vorce : this land would be one vast Paradise. As it is, the 
Christian element is so strong, so positive, so alive, that 
a mighty restraint is put upon the prevailing vices and 
crimes. Take the Christian element out of our legislative 
acts; take the Christian element out of our local govern- 
ment; take the Christian element out of our schools and 
colleges ; take the Christian element out of our homes ; and 
it would be more tolerable to dwell in the desert with wild 
beasts : we should be safer there. 

"Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt is pleasant to the 
taste. How flat and stale our food would be without it! 
But sprinkle just a little on this or that, and the whole 
thing is made palatable. What kind of a partner would 
you choose for life: a man or woman of a coarse, Christ- 
less nature? The friends you select: would you pick out 
the profane, the blasphemous, the brutal, beastly set. Take 



The Influence of the Christian Life 11 

the Christian graces, "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gen- 
tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance": what a 
sweet savor they put into the life; And the people that 
manifest these graces are the ones we delight to choose. 
The purer the life, the sweeter the fellowship that grows 
out of it. 

The disciple of Christ, the salt of the earth: the world 
of men would decay if he were not in it. But what about 
himself? Is it possible that the Christian can fall from 
grace? possible to lose grace? St. Paul teaches it, and 
Jesus here suggests it. Let us hear His words and be 
warned as to the possibilities of our own lives: "But if 
the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? 
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and 
to be trodden under foot of men." If the saltness goes 
out of the salt, it becomes useless dirt. It looks like salt 
on the outside, but the inner quality is gone. It cannot 
preserve: it can only defile. 

The salt of Christianity was put into our hearts when 
we were baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." By that act, we were 
brought into the fellowship of Christ and made heirs of 
eternal life. And the purifying salt of God's grace was 
used to sanctify as well as to save. The saving salt, 
therefore, has entered into our spiritual natures, not only 
to sanctify our lives but to be as salt to other lives. At this 
point, there are two questions which we cannot escape. 

(a) The first is as to ourselves within ourselves. The 
salt of God's grace has been imparted to you and me. 
Are we doing that which will keep the Gospel salt in our 
hearts? The Word of God: do we so read it and ponder 
it that it seasons our soul and all our life? The services 
of God's house: do we so wait upon them and so use 
them that the fruits of faith increase? If the salt is 
exposed to all kinds of weather, little by little the savor 
goes out of it. And the soul that is exposed to all kinds 



12 Gospel Truths 

of world-influences, is bound to lose the savor of God's 
grace. It is this that accounts for the indifference of so 
many Church people, for the gross neglect of so many 
Church people. The savor of the Gospel has gone out 
of their hearts: they thus cast themselves out to be trod- 
den under foot. I am afraid that the average Church 
member has no more than just enough of the salt of God's 
grace to keep him from the decay and death that are 
incident to our corrupt nature. The charge is severe; 
but I fear it is true. 

(b) The salt does not keep its saltness for its own 
sake alone: it exists for the preservation of things that 
are perishable. We are not to live unto ourselves — simply 
to secure the salt of the Gospel and keep it. We must 
have a preserving influence on other lives. In short, our 
saltness must go out to serve. We must bring people 
into the Church so that the salt of God 's grace may season 
their hearts: we must help to keep them there so that 
they do not lose it. In our daily companionships, we 
should be as salt to keep our friends from the rottenness 
that infects all community life. The places we go; the 
people we meet; the pleasures we choose: these should 
receive the impress of our sanctified selves. Everything 
we touch should be better because we have touched it: 
everyone we meet should be better because they have met 
us. Every place we go should be better because we have 
gone there. And this influence should not be a noisy one: 
it should be silent as salt. 

These two properties, then, should enter into every 
Christian life: the salt that saves, the salt that serves. 
We are saved by God's grace: we serve for Christ's sake. 
If the salt of the heavenly Spirit is in our hearts with 
sanctifying might, then it must go out and put the savor 
of Christ into other hearts and lives. The silent influence 
of each Christian life should work mightily for the re- 
generation of the race. 



The Influence of the Christian Life 13 

2. "Ye are the light of the world." Light and salt 
have quite different effects. Light makes things grow: 
salt keeps them from decay. They both serve a great 
purpose, yet so unlike. The light of the sun: nothing 
could grow without it. Blot the sun out of the universe, 
and you would kill everything that lives. And now Jesus 
says to His disciples, "Ye are the light of the world." 
The light of their lives was to go out into the world to 
enlighten other lives. How was this to be done? Before 
He went back to the Father whence He came, He told 
them: He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." It was a large task, but they 
undertook it. And when their days were done, they left 
the work to their disciples. And that has been going 
on from age to age, until at last the work has been handed 
over to you and me. And the demand is the same, "Go 
ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every 
creature." For we, too, are the light of the world, in 
the thought of Christ, just as surely as were His disciples. 
And if we are not doing our share, it is because we lack 
either grace or grit. 

The Christian light of our life putting light into other 
lives: that is what Christ expects of you and me. We 
have an influence and we dare not be blind to the fact. 
"A city set on a hill cannot be hid." There it stands: 
it says nothing, it does nothing, and yet it makes an 
impression upon every one who sees it. The steady in- 
fluence of a well built life: that is the thought here. The 
city can be seen only when the light shines upon it, or 
when the light shines out of it. And only as we walk 
in the Light — the Light shining down upon us or shining 
out through us — will people see us and value us aright. 
The Christian life should be above the common un- 
christian life. It should not, indeed, lift itself up in 
pride: it should be of such a nature that people will look 
up to it and admire it and be blest of it. "A city set 



14 Gospel Truths 

on a hill cannot be hid. ' ' You cannot hide your influence. 
Somebody will be impressed by it for better or worse; 
somebody will get good or bad out of it. If you come 
regularly to church, someone may follow your example; 
if you stay away, someone may do the same because you 
do it. In school-life, in work-life, in home-life, you are 
under somebody's gaze: you cannot help it. You are 
affecting them for weal or woe: you cannot hide your 
light. 

And you should not hide it. We have another figure 
to illustrate that point. Jesus says, " Neither do men 
light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candle- 
stick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.' ' 
If a man lights a candle, he doesn't do it to conceal its 
light: if so, why light it at all? It would but leave him 
in darkness the same as before. And if he did light it 
and hide it, we should conclude that there was something 
wrong with his mental part. And now, since the light of 
truth has entered your heart, what are you going to do 
with it? Will you try to hide it? It is wonderful how 
personal this text becomes; and we cannot get away from 
it. The candle was made to give light; and we were 
created anew in Christ Jesus to give light. All the light 
of our lives should go out into other lives. And as the 
light springs from life to life, the whole world will be- 
come ablaze with it. We know there are many dark 
places everywhere. Whole nations sit in darkness: whole 
tribes sit in darkness : whole communities sit in darkness : 
whole families sit in darkness. And there are individual 
hearts in which there is no light. It is a sad fact, and 
we know it. 

Yes, we know the fact; but how shall we remedy it? 
I am always glad that Jesus spoke of the candle — the 
smallest possible light. If He had spoken of the sun in 
its splendor, as its rays shoot millions upon millions of 
miles through space, and lighten up this world from pole 



The Influence of the Christian Life 15 

to pole, we could have found no parallel to our lives. 
The little light that we could give, in comparison, wouldn't 
be worth while. But a candle, a little flickering flame 
which, held up to the sunlight, is but a dark spot: how 
small its light : how short a space it reaches ! But it can 
fill a house! Your Christian light: fill your house with 
it, and God will ask no more. Fill your schoolroom with 
it, and God will ask no more. Fill your shop with it, and 
God will ask no more. Fill your church with it, and God 
will ask no more. Let the circle be large or small; if the 
light is pure, people will see it and be blest by it. 

But we must not attempt impossibilities. A candle will 
shine so far, and you cannot make it shine any farther. 
And your light and mine has its limit. Let us not try 
to make it fill the universe, when it cannot reach beyond 
the walls of one small house. We must, therefore, avoid 
two extremes: we must not hide it; we must not force 
it. We must give out the light that by God's grace, is 
kindled in our hearts. And so Jesus says, "Let your light 
so shine before men that they may see your good works 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ' ' He doesn 't 
say, "Make it shine," but "Let it shine." 

There is a point here — and deep significance. There 
would be no light if there was no material candle back 
of it. Good works are the candle of our lives: in their 
performance, we shine. Whatever enters into our lives, 
these are the works of our lives. And through these we 
give out the light of other lives. The light of our life 
is not the mere profession we make : it is not our Sunday 
conduct, which men sometimes put on and off as they 
do their Sunday clothes: it is the daily outshining of the 
spirit of grace which dwells in our hearts. As we go 
in and out of our homes; as we go up and down our 
streets; as we take up our daily task and finish it; the 
Christian should shine out in every syllable, in every mo- 
tion, in every act — not because we force it, but because 



16 Gospel Truths 

it shines out of itself by its own inherent light. And then 
men will glorify the Father in heaven! Did I say that 
our light does not shine beyond the little limits of our 
daily life? It actually reaches the throne of the Father 
in heaven above! What a boundlessness to the light of 
our lives! 

The salt of the earth, the light of the world, a city 
on a hill, a candle in the house: each of them is a figure 
of what we might be, of what we should be, of what by 
God's good grace we can be. As true disciples of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, let us give ourselves 
wholly unto Him, and we shall become all that he designs 
us to be. 



II 
THE QUESTION WITH A QUIBBLE 

Matt. 9:9-13. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, 
he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of 
custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he 
arose and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus 
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and 
sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his dis- 
ciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sin- 
ners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, 
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that 
are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will 
have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

The blessings of private life : the privilege of speaking 
our thoughts, of acting out our impulses, with no watching, 
waiting public to take account of it ! A man in public life 
has the questioners and the quibblers and the critics at 
his heels all the time. The eyes of the world are upon 
him : he cannot escape the universal gaze. And the public 
lets him know it. 

The text furnishes a case in point. Jesus had wrought 
some marvelous cures : they were out of the ordinary line. 
And the multitude looked on in amazement. But He moved 
right on unaffected by their praise. His life had a great 
central purpose; and He would fulfill it. That purpose 
involved the choice of twelve men who should act, above 
all else, as His witnesses. And so, He picked them out, 
one by one, till the number was complete. We have come 
to the point where He adds one to the list. The name of 
this new disciple is Matthew — the man who afterwards 
wrote the Gospel which bears his name — the man who 
wrote the words of the text. He was a Publican — an 
office which every devout Jew held in perfect abhorrence. 

2— Oct. 22. 17 



18 Gospel Truths 

He gathered taxes for Rome; for that great world-empire 
laid heavy imposts upon her provinces. It was her method 
of keeping up her armies, her excesses and her idolatries. 
And for a Jew to exact these taxes from his own people, 
was reckoned a traitor's part. But Jesus called this man 
away from his post of profit. And at the call, "Follow 
Me, ' ' he left the receipt of custom and was numbered with 
the Twelve. 

As soon as Matthew became a follower of Christ, he 
made Him his home-guest. He followed Christ ; and Christ 
followed him. Christ fed him on spiritual meat: he fed 
Christ on the meat that perishes. Christ gave him His 
best: he gave Christ his best. He gave Christ more than 
a feast: he gave Him his heart. He had been a man of 
the world ; and men of the world gathered around his table. 
There is a sort of transition here. Up to this time, pub- 
licans and sinners had been his only guests ; but now, along 
with these, Jesus and His disciples are feasted at his home. 
After a while, Jesus and His disciples will be his only 
guests ; and publicans and sinners will feast elsewhere. He 
will not banish them from his home ; but they, by the logic 
of moral life, will eliminate themselves. At this point, we 
come to the real purpose of the text. 

1. The Pharisees, somehow, looked in on the feast. 
They were prying in everywhere — not for the good they 
could do, but to find fault. And they said to the disciples, 
"Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners V 
They saw only the outward act: they were callous to the 
noble purpose back of it. They were the clean set, the 
precise set, the nasty-nice set. We have them in our time : 
people who are too dainty to come in social touch with 
the common classes ; people whose manners are most exact, 
whose grammar is perfect, who have a most refined taste ; 
and yet, they are so puffed up with pride, so conscious of 
their superior place, that they scorn the publicans and 
sinners of every-day life. 



The Question with a Quibble 19 

These Pharisees, whose religion consisted in outward 
rites in which none but men of their own quality and kind 
might take part: they could not understand Christ. To 
eat with publicans and sinners meant ceremonial defile- 
ment. It did violence to every religious scruple, and in- 
sulted their delicate religious sense. That is not a re- 
ligious life: it is a religious farce. And Jesus would 
reprove it. And so He throws Himself into the very face 
of their religious niceties and confounds them by His utter 
disregard for their set formalities. There was a great glow- 
ing purpose in His heart ; and He would fulfil it : at least, 
He would not let a few old flesh-proud Pharisees side- 
track it. 

"Why eateth your Master with Publicans and sin- 
ners?" Raise that question at any point of His life and 
what answer do you get? Why did Jesus come down to 
earth and assume our poor nature? Why did He submit 
to buffet and abuse ? Why did He allow them to nail Him 
to the accursed Tree? Why did He die? To these ques- 
tions, and all questions like these, there is but one answer: 
It was infinite Love manifest for sinners' sake. 

I cannot let this verse pass without bringing this ques- 
tion to ourselves. Why do men sit with publicans and 
sinners? What takes the most of people where those of 
sinful habits congregate? If I go among bad people, why 
do I go there? Is it to be as bad as they are? The one 
thing that should take you and me among bad people is 
to draw them away from their badness and make them, 
at least, as good as we are striving by God's grace to be. 
The prime duty, the supreme effort, of your life and mine, 
along moral lines, should be to draw the wicked away from 
their wicked works by stirring up some noble sentiment 
in their hearts; and then surrounding them with such 
wholesome influences as will enable them to lead sane, clean, 
honorable, God-fearing lives. That is true Christian serv- 
ice : let us render our share of it. 



20 Gospel Truths 

2. And Jesus makes that thought plain when He 
answers, "They that be whole need not a physician, but 
they that are sick." Everybody knows that: but, some- 
how, these Pharisees had not thought of it. And do we 
always think of it? These apparently common-place say- 
ings of Christ: what depths of wisdom they contain, and 
what heights! It is little short of miracle, the way He 
takes the plain, common, every-day events and makes them 
teach the prof oundest truths that touch upon the universal 
moral life. Into whose houses are the doctors going every 
day, with their medicine cases and their surgical instru- 
ments? As soon as we see them enter a neighbor's door, 
we know someone is sick there. And poor sin-sick souls: 
shall the great Physician pass them by, without a thought 
as to their wretched estate? Shall He not enter their 
homes and strive to cure their soul infirmities? Shall He 
sup with Scribes and Pharisees, bask in the sunshine of 
their homes, go only where the good live, and spend His 
speech on foolish flatteries? Is that like the Christ? Is 
that like Him who stretched His hands out toward the 
multitude and appealed with the voice of pitying love, 
"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden; 
and I will give you rest!" 

"They that be whole need not a Physician, but they 
that are sick." Is that the limit? Do these words cover 
the thought? Have they no generic sense? Shall we 
tie them down to what they say, and nothing more ? Shall 
we cling to the letter of this Scripture, or shall we seek 
the spirit which broadens into all the avenues of our com- 
plex life ? What we should do is this : Take these words 
and translate them into every possible form of Christian 
service. They that are rich do not need our abundance, 
but they that are poor. They that are happy do not need 
our sympathy and comfort, but they that are sad and 
disconsolate. They that are surrounded by a multitude of 
friends do not need our companionship, but they that are 



The Question with a Quibble 21 

lone-hearted and shut out from the fellowship of love. It 
is not a question of sinner and saint: it is a ques- 
tion of actual want — bread-want, social-want, heart-want. 
Wherever there is need of any sort, we must meet it. 
If we find it by the wayside, as Christ did, we must follow 
it into the house, though it take us into dens of vice or 
the rendezvous of the vile. And we must not give up 
a single case till we have exhausted all our resources to 
make a disciple for Christ. If we fail there, all is failure. 
A heaven-won soul is the only outcome that is worthy of 
our labor of love in Christ. 

There is one thing, above all else, that tries my patience 
and wearies my spirit: it is the common, senseless com- 
plaint, "If I had money like some people, I would do some 
good with it." There is no doubt that moneyed people 
might use their means to better advantage. But the vast 
majority of people are not blest with a superabundance. 
And when, with good conscience, they have given their 
good share to the Church, they can do no more. But 
money is not the measure of useful service: money is 
the least part of it. How did the Apostles regard it? 
When Peter and John went up to the Temple and found 
that lame man at the gate, what did Peter say? "Silver 
and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I thee." 
And what he gave was above price: money could not 
measure it. And that must be the principle upon which 
the most of us must act, if we would render any service. 
We may be compelled to say, as did the Apostle, "Silver 
and gold have I none." But let us not forget also to 
say as he did, "Such as I have, give I thee." Such as 
you have: consecrate it; sacrifice it, if need be. And 
.what do you have? Let us count your treasure. You 
*have time: give it. You have a sympathetic nature: give 
it. You have a cheerful, hopeful heart: give it. Go 
out, in the love of Christ, and give what you have. There 
are poor souls hungering for the comfort you can give: 



22 Gospel Truths 

if you have a Christ-filled heart, you cannot withhold 
it. There are poor, distressed, despairing mortals, the 
flickering flame of hope all but gone; if you are con- 
strained by the love of Christ, you cannot keep from fan- 
ning it into new life. The lonesome lives, the saddened 
lives, the hearts that are all but breaking to tell their 
woe, the tempted lives, the fallen lives! And the rich 
treasures of grace that God has given us! And we use 
so little of it — so very little of it! Let us resolve that 
we shall not live unto ourselves; but that we shall live 
for others' sakes. Let us resolve to do the physician's 
part — to minister to others according to the deepest 
needs of their lives by that gift with which God has 
blest us. 

3. It was the Pharisees who made this complaint. 
Jesus knew the frozen formalities which were the sum- 
total of their religious life. The Pharisee thought that, by 
the outward Temple ceremonies, he acquired merit: in 
short, he put God under obligations to prosper his worldly 
enterprise. The Church of Kome is infected by the same 
spirit; and many a Protestant heart is possessed of it. 
It is the human argument, "If I am good to God, God 
ought to be good to me." It may not be formulated 
into so bald a statement; but that is the substance of it. 
I venture to affirm that you and I have harbored the 
thought more than once — if not in positive form, at least 
in negative spirit. In time of sorrow, or misfortune, we 
have thought, "I wonder what I have done that God has 
brought this upon me." The same Pharisaic principle 
is there : it is deep-set in the natural heart. 

Jesus here quotes from one of the prophets: it was 
God's message to just such people as were these Pharisees. 
And He says, in fact, " I do not need your sacrifices. You 
cannot enrich me. It is not what you bring me that 
shows the Christian quality of your heart: it is what you 
do, in My name, to people like yourselves. Let Me see 



The Question with a Quibble 23 

you show mercy to these, rather than bring sacrifice to 
Me." It was a home-thrnst : it must have pierced their 
hearts and laid bare their hypocrisies. They were out- 
and-out formalists. They would go to the Temple and 
offer the appointed sacrifice. They would tithe every least 
thing — the mint and cummin and anise. But they neg- 
lected the great Law of Love. They never thought of it: 
they broke it every day of their lives. They scorned 
publicans and sinners: they criticized Christ because He 
ate at their table. They were always picking His acts 
to pieces. Take any point of dispute: the healing on the 
Sabbath; the eating with unwashed hands; the plucking 
of the ears of corn on the Sabbath ; the question of fasting : 
in each and every case, their whole attitude was that of 
a snarling, bickering, biting spirit. And the hate of hell 
was beneath it. 

And let me tell you, beloved, that right here is where 
our greatest danger lies. By all means, let us go to church, 
and worship there. But in doing it, let us not imagine 
that we are putting God under obligations to bless us. We 
cannot make God rich by church formalities ; and then 
expect from Him a hundred per cent. But if we come 
here and worship Him in spirit and in truth, then He 
will bestow upon us the riches of His grace. And there is 
but one channel of God's grace. It is not through the 
self-righteous spirit of the Pharisee: it is embodied in 
those closing words of the text, "I am not come to call 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. ' ' Yes, let us 
by all means go to church: there is a sad defection in 
true attendance these times. It is figured in the Gospel 
account of the great Feast. The supper was set : there was 
the earnest invitation, "Come." But one and all began 
to make excuse. And such flimsy excuses! The very 
same, in spirit, that men make when I invite them to 
come here. They imagine their excuse fits their case. It 
doesn't. It is the universal excuse — the one men have 



24 Gospel Truths 

ever made. It is the one the devil puts into their hearts 
and makes them believe it is true. 

Let Pharisees go to the Temple in Pharisaic spirit and 
for Pharisaic purposes. But let us meet in God's House 
and worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Let us come 
here, not in Pharisaic pride, but with the penitence of the 
publican; and let us cry from the depths of our hearts 
as did he, "God be merciful to me, a sinner.' ' 



Ill 
THE HEM OF CHRIST'S GARMENT 

Matt. 9:20-21. And, behold, a woman, which was 
diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came 
behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For 
she said within herself, If I may but touch his gar- 
ment, I shall be whole. 

The Gospel of Christ is universal in its scope. It is 
this that endows it with enduring interest and endears 
it to the people's heart. If the Scripture were a develop- 
ment of logical inferences, we might not be sure of our 
logic or our inferences: we might not have the menta] 
grasp to test it or the mental insight to enjoy it. Who 
of the great mass of humanity can read the books of 
the sages with pleasure or profit? They are too subtle, 
too hair-splitting, too critical, too abstract and abstruse, 
for the average intellect. Only a sage can read a sage. 
It is quite different with the Gospel of Christ. There we 
deal with acts — thoughts in flesh and bone. And from 
these acts, we draw our inferences. Even when we touch 
the direct teachings of Christ, we touch life — life like 
yours and mine; and their application to our hearts is 
evident and irresistible. As to His miracles, they, too, 
dealt with life — life like yours and mine; and we readily 
see, we cannot help but see, how admirably they fit our 
case. We have something, therefore, that the eyes can 
see and the hands can handle, of the Word of Life. And 
unless we merely speculate about it, the profit will soon 
be manifest. Every miracle which Christ performed upon 
men's bodies, will find its duplicate in our hearts. The 
blind, the lame, the halt ; those bent with infirmities, those 
possessed with evil spirits; the sick, the paralytic, the 
dead: what are these but great object lessons to make 

25 



26 Gospel Truths 

plain our spiritual estate. And the Word of Christ, in 
either case, works the cure. 

The woman of the text is burdened with an incurable 
disease: so like the sin that infects our lives. She has 
heard of Christ — the wonderful cures He has wrought; 
and she sincerely believes that He can cure her, and that 
He will cure her, as He did the rest. And as He cured 
her of her bodily ailment, so He can make our spirits 
whole. Let us come in faith, as she came; and we shall 
be blest, as she was blest. This is simple truth that ought 
to satisfy every longing heart. Let us now take up the 
leading facts of this incident and find some parallels that 
we may contemplate with spiritual profit. 

1. A humble manner marks all true approach to the 
throne of grace: the reverent spirit predominates. In the 
patriarchal age, men had a deep sense of awe when they 
came in touch with the divine. It was Abraham who said, 
"I who am but dust and ashes, have taken upon me 
to speak unto the Lord." The prophet Isaiah saw the 
Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His 
train filled the Temple. Then said he, "Woe is me, for 
I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; for 
mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." And 
this woman comes modestly, meekly, behind the Master 
and touches the hem of His garment. In each case, there 
was reverent awe. 

It must not be otherwise with us. There is a sacred- 
ness and a solemnity that attach to the devout recognition 
of the divine presence. The true worshipper is conscious 
of it. The demand overwhelms his heart, l ' The Lord is in 
His Holy Temple: let all the earth keep silence before 
Him." And as he sits in solemn repose, this thought is 
uppermost: "How holy is this place." We have no "saw- 
dust trail ' ' to hit : we have an altar to which we reverently 
come. We have no slum-slang to vent from the pulpit: 
we treat reverent themes with a reverent spirit and in 



The Hem of Christ's Garment 27 

reverent speech. It is not a superstitious dread that con- 
trols our attitude: it is the profound consciousness of the 
infinite presence of Him who fills with His fulness all 
time and every place. 

Are you so affected when you enter the Lord's House? 
Do you realize that God is a Spirit, infinite in majesty 
and might, in love and grace: and do you come here 
to worship Him in the beauty of holiness? Do you real- 
ize the significance of the opening sentence of our service: 
''In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost"? If God's eyes were visible; if His out- 
stretched hands were manifest ; if His voice sounded along 
these aisles, as it came to Moses in the solitudes, "Put 
off thy shoes from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy ground": there would be reverent regard 
for His Holy Name. But the sanctities of the Church 
have lost their significance. The Holy Court has become 
a highway for carrying vessels that are foreign to the 
place; while frivolous thoughts and unseemly acts engage 
those who outwardly assume the attitude of worship ; and 
their hearts are far from Christ. I would not deify the 
place; I would not fill it with empty formalities; I would 
not make it the avenue of Pharisaic hypocrisies : but I 
would have everyone who enters here, from the least even 
unto the greatest, to be deeply conscious that this is God's 
House and that holiness becomes this holy place. 

2. This woman followed Jesus in hope of a cure. It 
is remarkable what kind of people formed His daily 
retinue. The lame and halt were there; the dumb and 
blind were there; the sick and sorrowing were there; the 
weary and heavy-laden were there. And they followed 
Him to be healed of their infirmities. It was just as He 
would have it : " They that be whole need not a physician, 
but they that are sick"; "I am not come to call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance." And you all know 
that gentle appeal — more than once you have found com- 



28 Gospel Truths 

fort in it, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And people 
came to Jesus because He had something that met their 
want: He had something they could not get anywhere 
else. And men say, How beautiful; how like the Christ! 
How natural that He should be sought of those whose in- 
firmity drove them to His feet! And where else should 
they go? As Peter asked, when the alternative faced the 
disciples, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the 
words of eternal life." And so, it was the glory of the 
ministry of Christ that men, afflicted with all manner of 
disease, flocked to His side and sought His healing grace. 

And should it not still be the same? Is it not the 
same? Who, above all others, should go to church? The 
sin-sick soul, the sorrowing soul, the tempted and tried, 
the poor slave of a depraved appetite, the man overtaken 
in a fault, the one over whose head hangs some impend- 
ing fate — every possible condition of sin and short-com- 
ing, of weakness and wickedness and woe: these should 
come within the sacred pale and seek the benefits of Christ's 
redeeming love. And they should be welcomed there. 

What is the common judgment — the common practice? 
Men actually mock as the procession moves within the 
hallowed gates. And they exclaim with a significant sneer, 
"Why do such people enter there!" We do not come here 
because we are good — not one: note that fact. We come 
here because we are bad, and we know it. And we want 
the badness washed out of our natures. We know where 
we fall short — at least, we should know it. We know the 
sinful thoughts that have polluted our hearts since we 
last met here. We know the nasty, spiteful words that 
have befouled our lips since we last met here. We know 
the deeds — secret, it may be; open, it may be — that have 
brought reproach to our name since we last met here. 
But we have come in spite of these: aye, we have come 
because of these, to hear the comforting assurance, 



The Hem of Christ's Garment 29 

"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white 
as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be 
as wool." We have come to hear the declaration of grace, 
"If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to for- 
give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
ness." It is not our goodness that brings us here; it is 
not our goodness that makes us kneel at the altar and 
receive the Holy Sacrament: the pressure of sin drives 
us here as surely as the pressure of sickness drove this 
woman to follow Jesus and touch the hem of His gar- 
ment. It is Pharisaic to boast, ' ' God, I thank Thee that I 
am not as other men are": it is the sign of true penitence 
when we pray, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." In 
the main, it is the same class of people that follow Jesus 
today as followed Him when He dwelt among men, full 
of grace and truth: the leprous in heart, the crippled in 
life. A few, it may be, follow for the loaves and fishes; 
but only for a time: when they reach the point of sacri- 
fice, they go back and walk with Him no more. 

3. The woman touched the hem of Jesus' garment 
and she was made whole. It was an act of sublime faith ; 
and Jesus responded to it. It was faith, not superstition, 
not mere credence: it was faith — a faith that leaped the 
common bounds; a faith whose greatness was made mani- 
fest by the avenue of its exercise ; a faith that knew Christ 's 
almightiness and trusted it; a faith that saw the power of 
God in the hem of Christ's garment. What was that 
purple edge, the very hem of His clothes? No power, 
no gift, no healing virtue, without Jesus there. But put 
the garment on His human nature, which had entered 
into personal union with the divine; and the very al- 
mightiness of God was present to work the cure accord- 
ing to the faith of her who touched it. Aye, but that 
suggests something that takes us to the very core of our 
Christian doctrine, and illustrates it. 

The Word: what is it? The Bible, the outer garment. 



30 Gospel Truths 

''The words which I speak unto you," says Christ, "they 
are spirit, and they are life." And in touching the 
Word, through the garment of this printed page ; we touch 
the Christ, and His spirit and life flow into our spirits 
and lives. It is, therefore, the blessed avenue by which the 
healing virtue of Christ enters into our hearts. 

The Sacrament of Baptism: what is it? It is the gar- 
ment of God 's grace through Christ. It is not a mere sign 
of grace: it is the very avenue of grace. It is, as the 
Apostle declares, the washing of regeneration and renewing 
of the Holy Ghost. And if we touch this Hem of Christ's 
garment, we shall have the current of our life renewed 
according to His gracious promise. This is why He gave 
the command, "Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." And this is why we have the 
added promise, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall 
be saved." Doing as He bids, we touch Him through this 
Hem of His garment; and we know in our hearts that 
His regenerating might has been active and effective there : 
we know it as surely as this woman knew' that she was 
made whole. 

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper: what is it? It 
is the garment through which the virtue of Christ enters 
into our lives; so that the bread which we break is in 
very truth the communion of His body and the cup which 
we bless is in very truth the communion of His blood. 
The garment was not the sign of Christ's virtue going 
out for this woman 's cure : the garment did not represent 
the virtue of Christ, aside from all healing effect. The 
garment — the very hem of it — was the material medium 
through which virtue went out from Christ into the body 
of this afflicted woman and wrought her cure. And so, 
the bread is not the sign of the body of Christ ; the wine 
is not the sign of His precious blood : as some Protestants 
theorize. Moreover, the garment remained a garment — 



The Hem of Christ's Garment 31 

its edge did not change. Neither is the bread changed 
into the body of Christ, nor is the wine changed into 
His blood, as the Church of Rome teaches. Each remains 
what it was before the sacramental union took place. But 
as the garment of Christ became the avenue through which 
the healing virtue of Christ passed into the woman and 
made her whole; so the bread and wine become the ve- 
hicle by which the atoning virtue of Christ passes into 
our spiritual natures to strengthen and preserve us unto 
eternal life. And where Christ's virtue is, there is 
Christ. It is in this lofty, spiritual, yet real sense, that 
He gives us His body and blood in the Holy Sacrament. 

Do you ask, "How can these things be?" "The wind 
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither 
it goeth." If you cannot understand earthly things, how 
can you expect to fathom heavenly things? With God, 
all things are possible. Jesus suffered His garment to 
be the vehicle for conducting healing virtue to this woman 
and working her cure. And He uses Word and Sacra- 
ment as the means of communicating His own human- 
divine nature, with all its saving merit and cleansing 
might, to those who use them in faith to the strengthening 
of their spiritual lives. "This is the Lord's doin£: it is 
marvelous in our eyes." 

The account of this cure, therefore, has its practical 
and its doctrinal side. Let us learn humility from the 
humble way in which this woman came to Christ: let us 
assume the reverent attitude when we engage in church 
service. Let us not come to this place to show that we 
are good in God's sight: let us come because we realize 
how bad we are, and seek God's forgiving grace. And let 
this incident suggest and illustrate the true teaching as 
to Christ's relation to the means of grace — Word and 
Sacrament the outer garment which we touch in their 
use and by which Jesus Christ, with all the virtue of His 



32 Gospel Truths 

atoning merit, is communicated to our hearts with saving 
and strengthening might. It is the evident teaching of 
this miracle of love transposed into a parable of grace: 
it shows both the power and the avenue of the virtue 
of our Christ. 

And now, with a clearer insight into the virtue of Word 
and Sacrament, may we use each according to God's ap- 
pointment, as so beautifully and consistently illustrated by 
the incidents of this woman 's cure. Then the virtue which 
Jesus will impart shall be not only to the strengthening 
of our faith, but also to our growth in grace and to the 
blessed hope of everlasting life. 



IV 

THE POWER OF CHRIST 

Matt. 10:1. And when he had called unto him his 
twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean 
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of 
sickness and all manner of disease. 

The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is 
a very useful one; but it has its disadvantages. It some- 
times breaks the connection between antecedent and con- 
sequent events; and the underlying thought is lost, the 
force is gone. The text is a case in point. Wa must go 
back to the last verse of the preceding chapter, if we 
would get the real spirit of the words that compose it. 
Jesus had said, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the 
laborers are few. ' ' And He follows it up with the earnest 
appeal, "Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, 
that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." That 
is the true starting point. If a man sincerely prays for 
a cause, he will just as sincerely work for it. 

We shall do well, in church work, if we study the 
methods of Christ. We call this a practical age, and it 
deserves the name. But when it comes to real practical 
issues, we can learn a great deal from Christ and His 
Apostles. We are always urging men to give: there is 
abundant reason for it. But we do not start right : it 
is a dead start, and that is always a failure. The Apostle 
enjoined men to be instant in prayer: he knew that all 
else would follow as a matter of course. It was said of 
this same Apostle, "Behold, he prayeth": and Ananias 
knew that the man was ready to receive his sight. And 
now when Jesus says, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, 
that He will send forth laborers into His harvest," we 
are not surprised that the new chapter opens with the 

3 33 



34 Gospel Truths 

text, "And when He had called unto Him His twelve 
disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, 
to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and 
all manner of disease." 

1. The very first words of the text are suggestive: 
"And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples.' ' 
If we study the Gospels with a little care, we shall find 
that He called them more than once. Each time it was 
a little different from the one preceding it. At first, He 
had simply said, "Follow Me." If He had said more, 
they might not have hearkened to His voice. Every time 
the call came, it brought them a little nearer to 
His heart ; it brought them to a fuller consecration of their 
lives. And every time they went forth to service, they 
were the stronger for the commission to which they had 
devoted themselves. 

It is not otherwise in our case — at least it should not 
be. Each call should bring us into fuller service with 
deeper consecration to perform it. And if we have been 
true to it, it has endowed us with greater gifts. We get 
a bigger grasp on the work to be done; we get a nobler 
enthusiasm as we prosecute it ; we get a stronger courage, 
a keener insight, and a measure of ability that enables us 
to take up something on a larger scale. By degrees, the 
voice of the written or spoken Word becomes the voice of 
the heart; the outward call of Christ is translated into 
the inner call of our own spirit; and we bend our best 
strength to Christ's service as the moral and spiritual 
necessity of our lives. This is the unfailing rule. There 
are men and women cheerfully giving themselves to church 
service who, a few years ago, would have trembled at 
the very thought of undertaking the tasks which they now 
perform with comparative ease and in which they find 
their highest . delight. We do not have to search for the 
cause: we find it right here in Christ's promise to His 
disciples. 



The Power of Christ 35 

2. The text tells us that when Jesus called them, 
"He gave them power.' ' Men talk learnedly, these days, 
about the evolution of the moral life. As they mean it, 
it is the rankest of all heresies. We are dead in tres- 
passes and in sins. There is no process of evolution by 
which a dead animal or a dead plant can develop into a 
living state, much less into a higher life. Deadness means 
decay — a decay that ends in dust. And the soul dead 
in sin goes down to that death which never dies. It is 
right here where Jesus' work is manifest. He says, "I 
am come that ye might have life." And the Evangelist 
declares, "In Him was life." He puts the power of life 
into dead souls: He quickens them into newness of life. 
The very starting point of the renewed life is from Him. 
"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to 
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
His name." And at the close of His ministry, He gave 
this command to His disciples, "Tarry ye in the city of 
Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." 
The power to live comes from Christ: the power to labor 
comes from Christ. And so when He sent forth His dis- 
ciples, He gave them power to work miracles. 

That meant much to them: they would have been help- 
less without it. For He sent them forth to do the thing 
that was humanly impossible: well might they shrink 
from it ! But when He gave them power, they could say 
as confidently as did the great Apostle, "I can do all 
things through Christ which strengtheneth me." What 
courage His promise would inspire — and what comfort! 
For there would be disappointments and discouragements 
and defeats; but they knew that they could come back 
to Him who had sent them and He would revive their 
drooping spirits : He who gave them their strength would 
certainly renew it. He gave them power! Are there no 
manifestations of a like power in our lives ? Are there not 
times when we feel that the very power of Christ is in 



36 Gospel Truths 

our hearts : times when we stand ready to do and to dare 
for His holy cause! Are there not times when we set 
our foot upon the sin that doth so easily beset, and feel 
that we could crush it: times when we look calmly and 
confidently into the face of the loving Christ and are 
filled with an ecstasy that is all but divine! It is true 
we cannot remain on this mount of transfiguration and 
behold without let or hindrance the glory of Christ: the 
strongest wing must rest. And we are not only brought 
down among the suffering and sorrowing sons of men: 
we ourselves sorrow and suffer — many an earth-shaft 
pierces our hearts. Let us not murmur: it is the Lord 
who purges our lives. And we have the same blessed as- 
surance that came to the Apostle, "My grace is sufficient 
for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' ' 
Shall we not, therefore, respond as did he, "Most gladly 
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of 
Christ may rest upon me." 

3. "He gave them power.' ' And in doing so He did 
not lose in proportion as He gave : His supply is an infinite 
one, and no process of subtraction could lessen it. Every 
time we put forth power, so much energy is lost; and 
the time will come when we must renew it. But when 
Jesus gives power, He gives abundantly and loses nothing 
by the gift. If we give money, we can count it to the 
cent: if we give time, we can count it to the minute. 
But when Christ gives, He gives from the infinite abun- 
dance of His grace. When He gives wisdom, He is not 
made the less wise: when He gives power, He has not 
lost in might: when He gave His life, He did not lose it. 
There is an eternal spring that flows from Him to the re- 
freshing of our hearts and lives; but He does not lose a 
drop of it. 

And as He gave power to the apostles, so He will give 
power to you and me. He will enable us to meet the 
necessities of our time as surely as He enabled them to 



The Power of Christ 37 

meet the necessities of their time. There is no task in the 
Church, therefore, which we cannot perform by His grace. 
And when a man tells me, I cannot do this or that or 
something else, I believe it — most sincerely do I believe 
it. But I believe more: I believe that he has not put 
himself confidently into the hands of Christ and trusted 
the power of His life to inspire and strengthen and en- 
lighten him for the task which the Church appoints. The 
same enabling might that the Lord gave to the apostles 
He will give to everyone that enters into His service. When 
a man tells me that he cannot give up some vicious habit — 
something that is eating up his life, he contradicts Christ 
who is able to save unto the uttermost. He contradicts 
the inspired judgment of the Apostle, " There hath no 
temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but 
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted 
above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also 
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 
When a man tells me that he does not have the gifts 
for this work or that along the line of Christian service, 
he contradicts Christ, who gives miraculous power, if need 
be, to His disciples. And if a man cannot withstand that 
sin which controls his life, or if he cannot do that work 
which the Church justly expects, it is not because God's 
arm has suddenly grown short: it is because the man 
has shut the power of Christ out of his heart. 

It is the common complaint that the Church of our 
times lacks in genuine spiritual power. I am afraid there 
is much truth in it. But why is it ? The Church, indeed, 
has power of a certain sort. It has social power, and 
entertaining power, and club-life power, and the power 
of every earthly device; but as for spiritual power, there 
is so little of it. The love of Christ: how many are 
drawn into the Church, and serve there, because of it? 
The love of souls — to snatch them as brands from the 
burning: how many glow with a holy zeal that the work 



38 Gospel Truths 

of renewal may be accomplished in their hearts? And 
may we not repeat the question of the Master, "When the 
Son of man cometh, shall He find faith in the earth ?" 
He will find method and machinery — enough of it; He 
will find organization and activity in abundant measure. 
But it is all on a human plane, and it lacks the power 
with which He filled His apostles when He appointed 
them to their holy office. 

4. "He gave them power/ ' It was a special power 
that Christ gave to His disciples — power against unclean 
spirits, power to heal all manner of sickness and all man- 
ner of disease among the people. In short, it was the 
power of miracle that He gave. He came to perform a 
ministry of miracles: this ministry of miracles was given 
over to His apostles. The Church once established and 
proved divine, there was no further need of a like mirac- 
ulous might. The power needed to perform a work is 
not the same all along the line. In constructing a temple, 
it may be necessary to blast the rock on which to base it; 
but blast-power is not used to carve its columns or shape 
each niche and arch. At every step, a new power is needed 
till all stands out complete. And in the structure of 
the Church of Christ, at first came the manifestation of 
outward all-might ; that period past, the manifestation 
was one of inward divine grace. It is the point of which 
the prophet writes, "Not by might, nor by power, but by 
My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." And this miracle 
of grace is just as directly a manifestation of the power 
of Christ as were the miracles which the disciples per- 
formed in His name. 

Jesus gave His disciples power to destroy every evil 
influence. He never blotted out a single good thing: He 
never gave the power to do it. He came to destroy the 
works of the devil and bring in righteousness and peace. 
His works throughout were works of mercy and love. 
And now He commissions His disciples to do the same. Is 



The Power of Christ 39 

there a sorrow? He brings comfort to meet it. Is there a 
care ? He gives courage to face it. Is there a burden ? He 
bestows the grace to bear it. And He did the right thing 
at the right time. He did not tell the man that was 
blind to rise and walk. He did not tell the man that 
was deaf to open his eyes and see. He gave the proper 
cure in every case. And here, too, is where the Church 
must manifest the power of Christ. When people are 
hungry, they need something besides the Bread of Life: 
to read the Beatitudes to a starving man will not satisfy 
the cravings of an empty stomach. When people are out 
of work and sorely pressed on every side, a philosophic 
treatise on the unity of Scripture will not get them out 
of their trouble. If your house is on fire, your minister 
will not come in and read the Forty-sixth Psalm and pray 
for protection and peace. And the Church that is not 
massing her strength upon such activities as demand her 
supremest effort, has no proper conception of the com- 
mission that her Lord has given her. What is the great 
need of this hour? What is the greatest curse that rests 
upon our beloved land and is blighting its budding life? 
Whatever that is, there our strength must go: and God 
with us, we shall win for Christ. Yes: we must preach 
the Gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ — and 
faith alone ; but faith must be a living power in our hearts 
— one that worketh by love. Yes: you must come to 
church, and hear the Word, and join in prayer and song 
of praise ; but you must go forth in the strength and grace 
you get here and work that miracle which the circum- 
stance of your life sets before you as your peculiar task. 
The Church — each member active according to his oppor- 
tunities and gifts : the Church, through its disciples, must 
meet the demands of our age, just as the Apostles met 
the demands that were uppermost in their age. It was 
this that made the Apostolic Church a power among men 
at that time. The same Church lives today; the same 



40 Gospel Truths 

Christ is the Head of it; the same commission continues 
throughout time. But the work is not done; and we 
men of this age are chargeable for it. The love of Christ 
has not changed; the power of Christ has not changed: 
the fault lies in the instrumentalities; and that comes 
home to everyone who has named the name of Christ. 

Let us, then, each go into serious heart-searching this 
very moment : and let us find where the trouble lies. And 
may we each be stirred up to new consecration, redeeming 
the time, for the days are evil. He who has the power 
stands ready to put it into our hearts. Let us take of 
that power, so that it may work through us to meet every 
bodily and social and spiritual want. In this way, we 
shall manifest the power of Christ and show that we are 
indeed His disciples. 



THE POOR: THEIR CARE AND CURE 

Matt. 11:5. The blind receive their sight, and the 
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, 
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel 
preached to them. 

There is something unusual about the setting of the 
text. It is unusual in what it implies. John the Baptist 
is in prison, discouraged, disheartened, downcast. He had 
dared to reprove his king; and now he suffers for it. 
However, he hopes against hope: he hopes, not for his 
life, but for the cause to which he has given his life. And 
in his hope, he sends a message to Jesus, "Art thou He 
that should come, or do we look for another ?" Jesus did 
not sit down and write out His claims from Scripture: 
He could have done it. On another occasion, He said, 
"Search the Scriptures : they are they which testify of Me." 
Instead, this is His remarkable answer, "Go and show 
John again those things which ye do hear and see." He 
does not appeal to the testimony of Scripture, but to the 
testimony of His life. The question, these times, is not 
the bare, isolated one, "What do you believe?" It shifts 
to the practical side, "How does your faith express itself 
in your life?" In other words, What are you doing that 
men may hear and see the faith of your heart? The 
Christian life is more than a question of doctrinal princi- 
ples: it involves the added question of an active conse- 
crated service. We are not only to be hearers of the 
Word: we must also be doers of the work. That is the 
first side-line to the text. 

There is another side-line to it: it is one that lies at 
its very root. To get the relative value of the text, we 

41 



42 Gospel Truths 

must quote the whole verse: "The blind receive their 
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and 
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have 
the Gospel preached to them." No doubt you have felt, 
as I have, the seeming disharmony here. We look for a 
climax; but we do not find it: the balancing of thought, 
the anticipated sequence, is not there. Let us take case 
after case, so that you may get, clearly, my viewpoint. A 
blind man comes to Jesus, and He gives him sight. A 
lame man is brought to Him, and He enables him to 
walk. The lepers come — ten at one time — and they are 
cured on their way to the Temple. The deaf man is 
brought to Him, and his hearing is restored. He stands 
at the dead man's side and calls him back to life. He 
fills out perfectly that which is lacking in each case. And 
so, when the poor man comes to Him, what should we 
expect but that He would give him riches? At least, He 
will surely relieve him from distressing want. But instead 
of that, we read, "The poor have the Gospel preached 
to them." 

In our thought, that does not measure up to the other 
cases. In our thought, Bibles cannot take the place of 
bread; prayer, to the hungry man, is no substitute for 
potatoes. And in the shallow human sense, we are right. 
But in a deep, vital, eternal sense, Jesus' method is the 
correct one: He met the direct pressing want of the poor 
man, just as He met the direct pressing want of the blind 
and lame, the lepers, the deaf, and the very dead. In 
each instance, the relief is the exact counterpart of the 
want. And to show that — to bring it out into the clear 
daylight of your thought — is my purpose at this time. I 
have such a supreme faith in Jesus Christ that I would 
believe there was a true sequence to His thought, though 
I could not understand it. And yet, there is a satisfaction 
in knowing that fact answers to fact; and that in all 
His words and works, there is a perfect balancing of part 



The Poor: Their Care and Cure 43 

with part. Truth does not depend npon our comprehen- 
sion of it; but that does not hinder us from trying to 
comprehend it. 

When Jesus said, "The poor have the Gospel preached 
to them," He declared a great principle. He said, in 
fact, "The Gospel is the fundamental factor in the elimi- 
nation of poverty. ' ' We know how it is in heathen lands : 
the majority of people are in a starving state. But in 
Christian lands, the vast majority are in comfortable cir- 
cumstances. There is a discriminating line running down 
through the ages ; and the cleavage, on the one side, shows 
an abundance among God's people, while on the other, 
there is distressing want. I do not mean that every good 
man has plenty and to spare; and that every bad man is 
a beggar at the rich man's gate: the case suggested is the 
very opposite. But I do mean this : I mean that Christian- 
ity puts into a man's heart and works out in his life, 
those moral qualities that make for thrift. It fills him 
with the spirit of a true independence, which, in the last 
analysis, is self-dependence. To be exact, What does the 
Christian religion do for the working classes? 

1. In the first place, let me call attention to this fact: 
The Christian religion exalts Labor. It puts a dignity 
upon it: it lifts it up to a plane that commands respect. 
It not only makes the man respected : it fills him with self- 
respect. It is true, there was a time when the Church 
regarded labor as beneath the Christian life and detri- 
mental to it. But that was in the Dark Ages. The early 
Christians were largely working people. The disciples, as 
you know, were fishermen and tax-gatherers, and the like. 
St. Paul earned his daily bread by making tents. It was 
the Church of Borne that put the false estimate upon 
the workman's life. But the Reformation called the 
Church back from its false position. It taught that all 
labor is honorable, if performed with an honest purpose 
and the work itself honorable. It emphasized the fact 



44 Gospel Truths 

that the man who toiled at his trade could serve God as 
acceptably as the man who preached the Gospel of grace. 
It made every man a co-worker with God in carrying out 
God's plan of building up the race. The commandment, 
"Six days shalt thou labor," makes plain God's attitude 
toward work-life. 

2. And now, as my second point, note what that does 
for the laborer if he assumes the same attitude. It ennobles 
his life. He does not think of the grind of toil and trade. 
He does not grow restive because it puts a strain upon 
his muscles. He does not worry over the sweat that goes 
into it, or rebel against the slave-side of it. For every 
calling has its sweat and its slaveries. He regards him- 
self as a living part of the great machinery of human 
industries — an essential part. And if the humblest, mean- 
est work is the measure of his gifts, he is contented with 
his lot. He is the freeman of Christ ; and no earthly condi- 
tion can shackle his spirit or rob him of his birthright. 
There is not a single slave-thought in his heart. Every 
service he performs is, above all else, a service unto the 
Lord. He is not working to please men. The Dollar is 
not the almighty thing in his eyes. He is in God 's service : 
and all his world-work is but the performance of a duty 
which God, in His providence, has set before him as the 
great task of his life. There is true freedom, and true 
dignity, and true manliness of heart there. 

3. And besides — let me throw this out as a third 
point: the Christian principle puts into a man's heart 
the elements that lift him clear outside and above the com- 
mon poverty lines, the pauperism that clings as a curse to 
our social life. There is no such thing as a lazy Christian, 
an improvident Christian, a loafing Christian, a tramp 
Christian — no such thing, in bottom fact, any more than 
there is a drunken Christian, a vile Christian, a thieving 
Christian, a Christian of riotous life. As soon as a man 
becomes a Christian, he becomes diligent in business., f er- 



The Poor: Their Care and Cure 45 

vent in spirit; and, to crown it, he serves the Lord. The 
bread of beggary never touches his table. He makes honest 
provision for those who look to him for support. He gives 
his best thought and his best effort to such work as he 
can get — lofty or lowly, it matters not, just so he can be 
true to his manly instincts, and use, to the best, the gifts 
of God's endowment. He is not hunting for an easy 
place, or an exalted place, or a high-salaried place : he steps 
into the first place that will give him a start; and he 
trusts to his God-blest efforts to insure his merited advance- 
ment. There are men by the thousands and tens of thou- 
sands, whose lives grandly illustrate this fact. 

4. And so, getting back to the text — the underlying 
thought, "The poor have the Gospel preached to them,' , 
we find the deepest kind of practical philosophy imbedded 
there. The Gospel makes the poor man self-dependent. It 
makes him honest, industrious, interested in whatever ser- 
vice he undertakes. It makes him realize that he is a 
living part of the nation's great productive force. It 
keeps him off the Bread of Charities, and makes him a 
respectable and respected member of Church and State. 
Show me a truly Christian man and I will show you, in 
him, one who lives a self-dependent life ; unless some phys- 
ical or mental defect has unfitted him for labor duties. 
And in nine cases out of ten, every such man makes a 
fair provision for his old age, either by his little econo- 
mies, or by giving his children such advantages as will 
enable them to insure his support when the evil days 
come. The gauge of the Psalmist is a pretty correct one, 
"I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not 
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." 
The cases are exceptional. 

5. And with such an outcome, what shall be the 
Church's attitude? Along what lines shall she direct her 
energies? She should regard it as her primary duty to 
bring the Gospel to the poor — to fill their hearts and lives 



46 Gospel Truths 

with it. It is her province to do this, first and above all, 
in order to save their souls: for that is the primary pur- 
pose of the Gospel of Christ. But in addition, as a true 
civic service, by the preaching of the Gospel, she will 
drive pauperism from our coasts. And if she fails here, 
it must be because her dignitaries, as Carlyle puts it, are 
splitting hairs on "prevenient grace, " while the poor out- 
casts are wallowing in grime. The Church must take the 
Gospel into slum-life in order to obliterate it, and no other 
instrumentalities will do it. Her service, however, does 
not stop there — though it stoop there. Other avenues are 
open to her effort. There are accidents of life; there are 
distressing providences. Parents die; and little children 
are left without a home. Children die; and parents are 
left, in old age, without support. Sickness comes; and 
there is no money for medical service. The same Gospel 
which quickens the spirit of self-dependence, quickens, at 
the same time, the spirit of helpfulness. And so, the 
Church establishes her orphanages, her old people's homes, 
her hospitals and infirmaries; so that all those who are 
in absolute dependence, can have the special care they 
need, in view of the special want of their lives. 

What, then, is your duty and mine? To carry out 
the purpose of Christ, as indicated in the words of the 
text, "The poor have the Gospel preached to them." We 
should enter the homes of the lowly who have no church 
home, and strive to bring them under the power of the 
Gospel that saves. We should do it, not only through 
our pastors, our Sunday school workers, the various com- 
mittees of our several societies; but each one, in a direct, 
personal way, should try to bring one poor straying soul, 
impoverished in morals as well as in money — the idle, the 
dependent, the beggared, the vicious, the vile — under the 
powerful spell of the Gospel of grace, so that the Spirit 
of Christ may sanctify their hearts, ennoble their conduct, 
and make them in civic and social, in moral and religious 
relations, new creatures in Christ. 



The Poor: Their Care and Cure 47 

We try to preach the pure Gospel from our pulpits — 
the Gospel that saves, the Gospel that lifts up into nobler 
planes of life. We have our homes for the care and culture 
of child-life, our infirmaries for the aged, the crippled, 
and all others incapable of self-support. It rests with us 
to go out into the hedges and highways, and persuade 
people to come to the Gospel Feast. This is the only way 
to take the poverty out of their hearts — the only process 
by which we can take poverty out of their homes. 

We hear so much, these days, about social betterment. 
It is a good sign: it marks the awakening of the public 
conscience. But, let me tell you, all the efforts along that 
line are but passing make-shifts; they are, at best, but 
temporary adjuncts ; they serve no more than a day 's pur- 
pose; they do nothing for the heart. They are negative: 
and while they hold a needed place and have their whole- 
some effect, they do not last. Nothing is of permanent 
benefit which does not renew the very source and spring 
of life: and the whole world of outside service cannot 
touch it. 

Let us see to it, then, that while we may not enter, 
to any great degree, the moral and social movements of 
our times, we are doing that which is far more effective 
— something which Christ demands as our reasonable ser- 
vice, and which our Church sets before us as the funda- 
mental principle in all moral and social uplift. And if 
the challenge comes to us, ''What are you doing to estab- 
lish your claim to be the pure Church of Christ, " may 
we be able to give the answer that Jesus gave, "The poor 
have the Gospel preached to them. ' ' And may that answer 
take within its broad scope all that pertains to the civil 
and social, the moral and religious relations of life. It 
was the way Christ wrought: it is the way His Church 
will best fill her mission to men. 



VI 

THE MYSTERIES OF GRACE 

Matt. 13:31-33. The kingdom of heaven is like to 
a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, -and 
sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all 
seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among 
herbs, and beeometh a tree, so that the birds of the 
air come and lodge in the branches thereof. . . . 
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a 
woman took,, and hid in three measures of meal, till 
the whole was leavened. 

The Bible is a Book of Mysteries. It bears us into 
the realm of the infinite ; and the infinite abounds in depths 
which human plumbline cannot reach. People are dis- 
posed to reject the divine Word simply because they can- 
not understand it. They seem to forget that nature is 
full of mysteries. The food we eat, the water we drink, 
the air we breathe : these in themselves, as well as in their 
use, are mysteries that baffle the sublimest science. And 
yet, we continue to eat, and drink, and breathe. Every- 
thing that God hands down to us has the word ' ' Mystery ' ' 
stamped upon it. And if the Bible had no mysteries — 
nay, if it were not a chain of mysteries — we would say 
that God had not given it. It is the Book of Mysteries, 
just as the universe is a world of mysteries. And God is 
their only original source. 

The Church, therefore, is an institution of mysteries. 
And so, it differs from the institutions which men origi- 
nate. All human arrangements, outside of the Church, 
are as plain as the multiplication table: they must be 
logically definite and precise and exact, or men will have 
nothing to do with them. A business enterprise, a finan- 
cial scheme, a social compact, must be as plain as a. b. c. : 
men demand it, or they will not touch it. But if they 

48 



The Mysteries of Grace 49 

are Christian men, they will have nothing to do with a 
Church that has no mysteries; for mysteries — true mys- 
teries — are the revelation of infinite thought which finite 
minds cannot comprehend. Let us not take offense, then, 
at the mysteries of Scripture: they are the badge of God's 
infinitude. 

The 13th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mat- 
thew is devoted to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven 
— parables to illustrate their nature and effect. There 
are seven mysteries gathered here: I have chosen the 3rd 
and 4th of these as my text. The beauty of these parables 
is the simplicity, not only of the thought but of the facts 
which underlie it. For a parable would carry no weight 
if it did not deal with the common things of life. The 
illustration that has to be explained does not illustrate. 
The word "illustrate" means "to make bright." It is 
a glass through which we see things as they are. If the 
glass is cloudy, you will lose the fine points of the pic- 
ture. If the glass is imperfect, you will get a distorted 
reflection from it. The parable is like a pair of spectacles : 
it makes everything clear to your mind's eye. It is like 
a telescope, which brings distant worlds within the full 
range of your sight. And so, Jesus spake many par- 
ables that we might look into the heavenlies, as well as 
get a clear vision of the great realities that enter into 
our own mortal life. And now, let us take these two 
parables of the text and try to get at the teaching of 
.Christ. 

1. The first parable: "The kingdom of heaven is 
like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and 
sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds: 
but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and 
becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and 
lodge in the branches thereof." The people to whom this 
was spoken would understand all about it. We do not 
have the mustard plant, as they had it; and so, it may 

4 



50 Gospel Truths 

be well to say a word or two touching its nature. The 
mustard seed of Palestine was the smallest of berries, while 
the plant which grew from it was the largest of shrub- 
beries. It actually grew up and spread out like a tree, 
from ten to fifteen feet in height. It is therefore one of 
the miracles of nature. A little black seed, with appar- 
ently no life in it : who can imagine the vital force it pos- 
sesses! A dry, hard, little sphere, not much bigger than 
the head of a pin: and yet, planted in the earth, with 
sunshine and shower to nourish it, it springs up into the 
air like a tree, and the birds lodge in its branches. It is 
one of the multitude of mysteries that abound on every 
side — so common that we scarcely give them a passing 
thought. The vital energy that is stored in everything 
that grows : we cannot understand it. If you were to take 
one of these little seeds and cut it to pieces, you could not 
find its life. Life? What is your life? You know you 
have it ; you know it is everywhere in your physical frame ; 
but what it is or how the blood carries it — the profound- 
est science knows nothing but the physical processes. And 
yet, we do not reject the mystery because we cannot under- 
stand it. We accept its existence as a fact, because nature 
is full of it. 

And now, Jesus says there is a mysterious force in the 
kingdom of heaven: but we must plant it. The power 
of a little seed: the self -developing force that lies within 
it, and the reproducing force! How accurately it repre- 
sents the kingdom of heaven, as Christ established it. Let 
us not speculate as to the kingdom of heaven — what it is 
— what is embraced in it. The Church is its earthly part : 
let that suffice. The seed is the Word : the human heart 
is the place to sow it. And if the heart holds it, the seed 
will spring into life and bring forth the fruits of grace 
as surely as the mustard seed grows up and branches out 
and bears its peculiar fruit. In either case, the mystery 
is the same. We cannot fathom it. Indeed, to me, the 



The Mysteries of Grace 51 

power of the seed is a greater mystery than the power 
of the word of Christ. "We know that there is a moral 
force to a moral word; on the same principle, there must 
be a spiritual force to a spiritual word. And, so, we can 
understand, in a measure, what Jesus means when He 
says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit 
and they are life. ' ' 

A word — a sound — nothing more : there is no substance 
to it. A breath playing on the vocal cords: how next to 
nothing it seems to be! And yet, there is almightiness 
in it when God utters His voice. A man's word is the 
man in utterance. If he be true ; when he makes a promise, 
he will perform it. A good man's word, we say, is as 
good as his note. The whole wealth of the man, the whole 
power of the man, the whole virtue of the man, lie in his 
word and blossom in his life. The promise he makes ; the 
task he undertakes ; the ideals he tries to realize : his word 
for it, you can be sure of the result. He keeps within his 
finite limits. And what of Jesus Christ ? He has no finite 
limits. What saith the Scripture? "By the word of the 
Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by 
the breath of His mouth: for He spake, and it was done; 
He commanded, and it stood fast." His limits are in- 
finite : He has no limit. He spake : and the withered hand 
was made whole; the devils came out of the Gadarenes 
and entered into the swine; the sick, the lame, the halt, 
were cured of their infirmities; the dead were brought 
back to life. The word of command was a word of in- 
finite might to do according to His good pleasure. It never 
failed except when men hardened their hearts: for God 
will not break the will; He would but move it. 

The power of the Word as the seed of life: why are 
not men everywhere made new creatures in Christ? The 
parable of the sower explains it. There is the hard heart, 
and the shallow heart, and the heart preoccupied by pleas- 
ures and cares: there are so few hearts that receive and 



52 Gospel Truths 

keep it. The mustard seed will grow no place but in the 
ground : the Word will take root no place but in the heart. 
Keep it there ; cherish it there ; and you will grow in grace, 
and you will have no spiritual growth without it. The 
kingdom of heaven will take root on earth only as it is 
planted in the hearts of men. And that means you and 
me. It is the Church that scatters the seed of the Word: 
it rests with us to place ourselves under its influence ; and 
the Word's power — not the power we put into it — not the 
power we have by nature: the Word's power, as God's in- 
strument of grace, will awaken us from the death of sin 
and make us alive in Christ. 

2. The second parable of the text is even more mys- 
terious than the first one: "The kingdom of heaven is 
like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three 
measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Leaven 
is not so much a substance as a property or quality in 
substance. It is a subtle something which works through 
the dough till every particle has been changed into its 
nature. We can no more see it or touch it, than we can 
see the sweetness of sugar or touch the savor of salt. And 
yet, its presence and power are as real as if it had life. 
It symbolizes the silent influence of the Holy Ghost upon 
the heart, making men like-minded with Christ. 

The kingdom of God does not come with observation: 
it does not come by violence. And yet, it works mightily 
and effectively wherever it comes in touch with the human 
race. The Apostles went everywhere preaching Christ: 
that was the leaven which subdued empires, wrought 
righteousness, and brought the nations, one by one, to 
Jesus' feet. It fulfils the prophetic word, "Not by might 
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
And nothing but the leaven of the Gospel will ever make 
this world what it ought to be. Wars cannot conquer 
it ; laws cannot regulate it ; the inner force of nature can- 
not mould it. The world is set right and kept right only 



The Mysteries of Grace 53 

when the kingdom of heaven has entered as a vital prin- 
ciple and changed the whole heart and life. 

It is a peculiar fact that, in the Old Testament, the 
word "leaven" has an evil sense: it commonly has the 
same bad sense in New Testament Scripture. But as Christ 
commended the unjust steward, not because he was wicked, 
but because he was wise; so He could take this word 
which commonly symbolizes a mighty evil influence, and 
make it illustrate the power of the Gospel in the transfor- 
mation of the human race wherever it comes in contact 
with human life. There were three evil influences — the 
leaven of three phases of Jewish life — operative in the time 
of Christ. There was the leaven of the Pharisees — the 
hollow formalities of their religious life. There was the 
leaven of the Sadducees — the cold, critical spirit with 
which they regarded the Holy Scriptures. There was the 
leaven of the Herodians — the worldliness which took all 
the religion out of their life. And this threefold leaven 
had permeated the whole Jewish people and made them 
enemies of Christ. It shows the power of evil doctrine, 
working its way into the Temple, polluting its sacrifices, 
and making its service of none effect. And as the leaven 
of hypocrisies and lies was worked into it, God was worked 
out of it ; until, at last, Christ pronounced the doom which 
they could not escape, "Your house is left unto you 
desolate. ' ' 

But the leaven of the kingdom of Christ: what of it? 
It may be mere accident; but it is quite pertinent: The 
woman took three measures of meal; and the leaven went 
through every particle of it. There are three kinds of 
religious life, of which the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and 
the Herodians are the outward type. They are the great- 
est enemies of Christ. They are the bad leaven working 
in the hearts of Church people. There is the Pharisee 
type, the religion of formalities : it dotes on the little out- 
ward ceremonies. There is the Sadducee type: it doubts 



54 Gospel Truths 

the mysteries of the Gospel of Christ. It takes the facts 
of Scripture and converts them into empty figures: it 
nowhere finds any spiritual realities. There is the Herodian 
type: it patronizes the Church as Herod did when he 
built the Temple; it would summon world-force to settle 
church issues and adopt world measures to meet church 
wants; it has the brand of the almighty dollar upon it, 
the brand of world ways upon it, the brand of world wis- 
dom upon it. And there is the danger that these three 
mighty influences will empty the Church of all true 
spiritual force, as surely as they turned the ceremonies 
of the Temple into hollow mockeries. That is what is 
wrong with the Church these times. Phariseeism, Sad- 
duceeism, Herodianism, up to date, with their evil leaven 
permeating every particle and part. The Church, there- 
fore, has a mighty task before it: to put the leaven of 
truth into every heart, so that, little by little, it changes 
the whole lump of the life : Phariseeism gone, Sadduceeism 
gone, Herodianism gone, and Christ alone supreme. 

At this point the question becomes a personal one. We 
know that the leaven of wickedness is working in every 
heart, whether we are in the Church or out of it. As 
we are in the Church — members of the same — it might be 
well for us to ask ourselves if the leaven of the Pharisee 
is working in our natures. Is our Christian life dwindling 
into a round of formalities? That, perhaps, is our great- 
est danger — the danger that we prize outward ceremonies 
more highly than we do inward grace. The leaven of 
the Sadducees is doing a great deal of harm these times. 
It is fashionable to distrust the teachings of the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures — to doubt alike Word and Sacrament. 
There are people who have far more faith in themselves 
than in the Bible : the leaven is a dangerous one ; we must 
shut it out of our hearts. And the Herodian type — how 
common it is! It gives the Church a world measurement: 
it would make it a world power by the use of world ap- 



The Mysteries of Grace 55 

pliances. It patronizes the Church with its charities. We 
surely want to keep that kind of a spirit out of our hearts. 
And how shall we do it? The Gospel seed must be 
there to take root, and grow like a tree, and spread out 
living branches. The Gospel leaven must be there to 
change our natures and give us the spirit of Christ. It 
rests with us to receive the Word into good and honest 
hearts; for it alone can transform our lives. 



VII 
IN THE MOUNTAIN: ON THE LAKE 

Mat. 14:22, 23. And straightway Jesus constrained 
his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him 
unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went 
up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the eve- 
ning was come, he was there alone. 

The text brings us in touch with Christ's miraculous 
might. Manifest in the weakness of human nature, He 
is also manifest in a power that is altogether divine. And 
it is the union of the human and divine that makes His 
life such a marvelous one. At one time, the agony of 
His human soul breaks out in bloody sweat: at another 
time, the majesty of the Almighty is manifest in word 
and act, whether He speaks peace to the winds and waves 
or calms the troubled heart. His natures did not move 
along separate lines — the divine now acting independently 
of the human, the human now acting independently of 
the divine. We do not have a divided Christ. Each 
nature has its properties; and each operates according 
to its peculiar properties: but every act is an act of the 
whole Christ. 

We have a dual nature, body and mind: they con- 
stitute one person. Thought is of the mind ; but the entire 
person thinks. Act is by the hand; but the entire per- 
son acts. In Christ, God and man are one. It is not the 
human alone that suffers; the entire person suffers: it is 
not the divine alone that saves; it is the entire person 
that saves. God in Christ suffers through the human 
nature: man in Christ saves through the divine nature. 
Your mind partakes of your physical acts ; your body par- 

56 



In the Mountain: On the Lake 57 

takes of your mental acts. You cannot divide yourself into 
two parts; neither can you have a divided Christ. 

1. I am led to this reflection because the almightiness 
of Christ has just been manifest in feeding the five thou- 
sand : and now He goes up into a mountain apart to pray ; 
and when the evening was come, He was there alone. It 
was by His divine power that He fed the multitudes: 
it was according to His human nature that He clambered 
the mountain-side and in His human need poured out His 
prayer there. Man cannot feed multitudes, as Christ fed 
this one: God cannot pray; for to whom would He go 
with the sacrifice of His lips? And yet man in the unity 
of the divine nature fed the multitude, and God in the 
unity of the human nature went step by step to the moun- 
tain top and there, at the throne of the Father, poured 
out the deep desires of His heart. In feeding the multi- 
tude, the almightiness of the divine nature was manifest 
through the Christ, both natures participating in the act; 
for their union is personal and inseparable. In climbing 
the mountain and praying there alone, the need of the 
human nature was manifest in the act; for their union is 
an inseparable one. 

The inseparableness of the two natures in one person: 
the Church everywhere teaches it ; for the Scriptures teach 
it. The Scriptures teach it, not in dogmatic terms, for 
the Bible is not a system of doctrine; but by implication 
in a multitude of instances. The Book of Revelation is 
like the Book of Nature : it is in an unclassified state. The 
naturalist goes out into the world of nature and divides 
everything into three classes — animal, vegetable, and min- 
eral. These he divides and subdivides, till every known 
element is put into its proper place. The theologian takes 
up the Bible and he finds three orders of beings — God, 
angels, and men. He learns their attributes; he discovers 
their offices; he finds their relations and effects: in short, 
he constructs a system, the material of which he gathers 



58 Gospel Truths 

from the whole range of the Bible. And among the 
things that he evolves, there is nothing that is more uni- 
versally accepted than the union of the two natures, the 
human and the divine, in the person of Jesus Christ. And 
this is an inseparable union. To destroy it, would be to 
destroy the Christ: it would be like separating the soul 
from the body — the life would be gone. 

The inseparableness of the two natures : where the divine 
is, there the human is also ; what the divine does, the human 
participates in it. Does not Christ say, ' ' Where two or three 
are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst 
of them ' ' ? He is there according to His human nature as 
well as the divine. We have with us the very same Christ 
that the disciples had with them — invisible, glorified, it 
is true; but the same loving, the same sympathizing, the 
same almighty personality — God and man in Christ. We 
have in the Holy Supper the entire Christ — not the human 
nature in heaven, while the divine comes down and im- 
parts itself through the bread and wine; but the whole 
Christ, the inseparable human-divine one, imparts Him- 
self to us in the Sacrament, so that when He says, "Take, 
eat; this is My body: take and drink; this is the New 
Testament in My blood/ ' we know that in a lofty, incom- 
prehensible, sacramental sense, Christ is present and com- 
municated in the fullness of His two natures. What a 
comfort, what a joy to our hearts, to know that the very 
Christ who lived our life, who suffered and died and rose 
again, who ascended into heaven and reigns in glory there : 
to know that this same Christ is with us to strengthen us 
by His grace! 

2. What a helpless thing is life outside of Christ! 
These disciples could feed the multitude, with Christ to 
bless the loaves and fishes: they could do the humanly 
impossible. But when Jesus sought the mountain soli- 
tudes, and they launched their boat on the sea of Galilee, 
they were powerless against the opposing waves. They 



In the Mountain: On the Lake 59 

were in their old element, at their old trade; but Jesus 
was not there, and God was in the storm. No wonder the 
ship was tossed by the waves. 

The absolute dependence of human life! We walk on 
God 's earth ; we eat what God puts into it and makes grow 
out of it; we breathe God's air and see by God's sun- 
light: the love and goodness and might of God enter into 
everything that pertains to human existence. Aside from 
all spiritual sense, He can say to us as Christ said to His 
disciples, " Without me, ye can do nothing." And yet, 
while men recognize their physical helplessness ; while they 
are ready to acknowledge, "The eyes of all wait upon 
Thee, Lord, and Thou givest them their meat in due 
season"; while they are ready in bodily extremity to cry 
as did Peter when the billows were about to sweep over 
his head, "Lord, save me"; they think that they need no 
spiritual support; that they are sufficient in themselves 
and of themselves to work out in their lives every special 
gift and grace that will fit them for inheritance among 
the saints in light. 

The man outside of Christ is as helpless in spiritual 
things as were these disciples without Jesus in the boat. 
They were the sport of the waves, powerless even to reach 
the shore. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an un- 
clean? not one." Man possesses no renewing might. He 
cannot lift himself out of his nature — his fallen spiritual 
estate — any more than a creature of earth can change its 
nature. We are sold under sin : it is a spiritual bondage. 
The Son of God paid the price, and we are free. Our 
hearts are in a corrupt state: they must be cleansed by 
the renewing power of the Holy Ghost. We have no 
spiritual life, no spiritual health, no spiritual strength. 
We are out upon the sea in the frail boat that we have 
made, and we cannot row against the driving blast. And 
if we try to walk on the water, as did Peter, nothing but 
the stretched-out hand of Jesus can save us. 



60 Gospel Truths 

3. The effect was marvelous here. As soon as Christ 
entered the ship, the waves ceased: the storm was stayed 
at His rebuke. And so convincing was the proof of His 
almighty power, that the disciples came and worshipped 
Him saying, "Of a truth, Thou art the Son of God." It 
was the argument of fact, and they yielded to it. 

It is the only outcome of fellowship with Christ, the 
only true outcome. If we follow Him from day to day 
in the ministries of His life, hear His words of grace and 
truth, see His works of tender love, we must be convinced 
as were His disciples, and we must confess, ' ' Thou art the 
Son of God." The deity of Jesus Christ becomes more 
and more evident to everyone who follows the Gospel ac- 
count with a teachable heart. It is true, there are traitors 
like Judas and doubters like Thomas. There are men who 
rush into discipleship like the young ruler, and then rush 
out of it. But those who come with a sincere purpose, 
critical though it be, will find that Christ meets the deep 
spiritual demands of their nature, and at last they will 
cast themselves at His feet and acknowledge Him to be 
Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

The proud Pharisee will not confess His name; the 
learned Scribe will not come to Him for saving grace. 
The prejudiced man, the self -centered man, the man whose 
intellect has dwarfed his sensibilities, the man who so 
magnifies the creature that he loses sight of the Creator, 
the man who deifies dust and exalts himself as his own 
Christ: such a man does not receive the Gospel into a 
good and honest heart, simply because he has no heart 
for it. The man who takes the Gospel into a dissecting- 
room and studies it through a microscope: that man gets 
nothing out of it. The life principle of the Gospel is the 
living Christ which it puts into the heart: man cannot 
touch it any more than he can touch the life principle of 
a plant. Life is too subtle for man-made instruments or 
mortal eyes. 



In the Mountain: On the Lake 61 

But the evidences of life abound. We know there is 
a life principle in an animal: the animal is the proof of 
it. We know there is a life principle in a plant : the plant 
is the proof of it. And we know that the life principle of 
Christ is living and active in human hearts : the Christian 
life of men, since the days of the apostles, is proof of it. 
As soon as the spirit of Christ enters into a man's life, 
so soon he worships Christ. If a man, therefore, does 
not worship Christ, we know that Christ is not in his 
heart. The disciples were convinced that Jesus was the 
Son of God: with that conviction, they worshipped Him. 

4. So far, we have dealt largely with principles: the 
text finds many applications in our lives. A great min- 
istry has its mountain-top retreat where God and the heart 
commune, with naught but the stars as witnesses. The 
Lord called to Moses, "Come up unto Me in the mount.' ' 
And if we would fulfil our mission in life, we must get 
far above earthly levels of thought and act, and commune 
with Him in the deepest solitudes of the soul. 

Every life must have its holy hours. Jesus prayed 
in secret away from earthly sights and sounds — Himself 
and God alone. The beauty, the sublimity of it ! We must 
have the same. We have the Lord's day, a mountain-top 
of privilege: and God is there. But the Lord's day is 
a holy day only as we use it for holy purposes. And it 
can be given to holy purposes only as we live a constant 
holy life. We cannot schedule time: this day for sharp 
practice, that day to spend its profits in debaucheries, and 
so on till Sunday comes, and then label it, "Holiness unto 
the Lord." The only man who uses Sunday aright is 
the man who uses every day of the week aright. It takes 
six days of holy living to fill the seventh with holiness 
of life. 

The prayer of Christ was one of fellowship and love: 
it was blessed communion with the Father who sent Him. 
We have narrowed prayer to a beggar's call for help. 



62 Gospel Truths 

And if help comes, we forget to pray till we need help 
again. That is the lowest possible conception of a prayer- 
ful life. "Commune with God in thine own heart. " Like 
Enoch, we should walk with God till God takes us. We 
need the spirit of David, "I will sing unto the Lord as 
long as I live: my meditation of Him shall be sweet. " 

It was night : and Jesus was on the mountain-top alone. 
What lonely hours He must have spent ! The joy of His 
heart was joy in the Lord: even His disciples could not 
partake of it. The world is full of people: how many are 
you willing to make heart companions of your life? And 
as you rise in intelligence, in heavenly thought, in holy 
impulse and act, the more you find yourself alone. Five 
thousand crowded around Christ for the loaves and fishes; 
but for pure fellowship, one that was altogether divine, 
He climbed the mountain alone : and the Father met Him 
there. 

The disciples, with Christ in their midst, could dis- 
tribute bread to multitudes; without Him, they could not 
manage one little boat. The larger deed was a success 
because Jesus was there to bless the bread and break it. 
The smaller was a failure because Jesus was on the moun- 
tain and they were alone. The man who does not have 
Jesus as a partner-in-trade, fails at the essential point. 
He may ply the oars with all his might; the boat may 
bound upon the waves ; but he cannot reach the shore : he 
cannot reach the haven of eternal rest and peace. The 
only way to save the disciples was to work a miracle. 
Is not every saved soul a miracle of grace? The Incar- 
nation, the Resurrection, the coming of the Holy Ghost: 
each is a miracle. We are out upon the sea of life; the 
storm is driving us into the gates of death ; Jesus sees us 
from the mountain-top of the skies, and He comes down 
to save. He enters the boat — our poor life; He speaks 
His "Peace, be still," to our trembling hearts, and there 
is a great calm. What other can we do than call Him 



In the Mountain: On the Lake 63 

divine and worship Him! Miracle upon miracle marks 
the workings of His saving might. 

As He drew near, they said, "It is a spirit!" And 
they were filled with fear. How men tremble at the thought 
of the presence of a spirit! They sin against God; they 
despise Him; they neglect His worship; they profane His 
name: but God is a spirit, ever present! "Thou God 
seest me": they know the fact. They are afraid of all 
kinds of imaginary spirits; but the fear of the Lord is 
not before their eyes. 

One more thought. Peter had said, "Lord, if it be 
Thou ! " "IF '—that wretched word of doubt ! No wonder 
he began to sink ! " If " is the word with which the devil 
tempted Christ in the desert. How different their con- 
fession with Christ in the boat! There they worshipped 
Him and said, "Of a truth, Thou art the Son of God." 
Heaven forbid that the word "If" should ever enter into 
the creed of our hearts. May we the rather be able, by 
God's grace, to lay our hand upon the whole Revelation 
of God in Christ and say, "This is most certainly true!" 



VIII 

THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM 

Matt. 18:1-4. At the same time came the disciples 
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the king- 
dom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto 
him, and set him in the midst of them. And said, 
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and be- 
come as little children, ye shall not enter into the king- 
dom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble him- 
self as this little child, the same is greatest in the 
kingdom of heaven. 

A man's questions are often his best measure: they 
are the self-revelation of his mind and heart. A divine 
Teacher in daily fellowship with His disciples: what 
sublime heights where they might sit and see His face, and 
learn of life and peace and joy to come! The privilege 
of tuition under such a Teacher's care: what glorious 
results there should be in the lives of those who are blest 
by it! 

The hold of human nature on man's purest purpose 
and noblest effort : it commonly strives for the mastery ; it 
commonly secures it. It will rise up and take the reins 
and rule. And of all the sad instances in the life of 
Christ, none is more sad along that line than the scene 
of the text, when the disciples come to Jesus with a little 
question of place. "Who is the greatest in the kingdom 
of heaven?" The miserable self-seeking, the mean self- 
pride that could suggest such a thought! Imagine a man 
admitted into the presence of the crowned heads of Europe 
— rank, culture, art, on every side; and he should be 
puffed up and almost burst with pride at his own im- 
portance. Imagine a man entering a Hall of Fame; and 
as he stands in the midst of the statues of the great men 
of all ages, he rises above them all in his own eyes — him- 

64 



The Greatest in the Kingdom 65 

self but a cypher in the number of the world's good and 
great. The case in hand outclasses it. 

1. "The Kingdom of Heaven!" God on the throne, 
angels and arch-angels and the spirits of the just made 
perfect ranged in glory there: the scene transcends the 
loftiest range of human thought! And as we enter, shall 
we claim a place, the one on the right hand and the other 
on the left of Him who rules the universe ? We, dust and 
ashes, saved by grace: shall we not prostrate ourselves 
and cry in humble tone, "Not unto us, Lord, not unto 
us; but unto Thy name be all the praise." 

"The Greatest!" Shall not our hearts leap with joy 
at the thought that we may have even the least place in 
' ' The Kingdom of Heaven ' ' : willing, like the prodigal 
son, to take the humblest servant's part! As you stand 
before some mighty waterfall that breaks in very thunder- 
tone at your feet; as your eye leaps from crag to crag 
till the towering mountain penetrates the clouds and you 
are overawed at its vastness, you do not think of the large 
place you fill in this universe: your soul is hushed into 
silence, and tremblingly you whisper in the deepest recesses 
of your heart, ' ' Lord, how manifold are Thy works ; in 
wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of 
Thy riches!" And as a man gets a glimpse of the king- 
dom of heaven — its glory, a glory that exceeds our sub- 
limest thought — shall he begin to speculate as to the big- 
ness of the place he shall fill there ? The greatness of the 
kingdom is not measured by the littleness of the man who 
enters it: it is great before he gets there. A drop in the 
ocean, a grain of sand on the' seashore : these more than 
measure a man in the infinitude of that kingdom where 
God reigns supreme. 

It is more than a little fact of history, this question, 
"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" It is 
a fact of life — a fact as real today as it was in the time 
of Christ : a fact, therefore, of human nature, the best as 

5 



66 Gospel Truths 

well as the worst. And we must realize our living relation 
to it. We have a very nice way of dividing and subdivid- 
ing the great events of this world-age and studying them 
like a map — something altogether outside of ourselves. Let 
us not forget that we are a living part, vitally connected 
with its very center. Time and space do not count here: 
a great world-fact belongs to all time and every place. 
Upwards of seven hundred years before Christ, the Prophet 
could say, "He was wounded for our transgressions; He 
was bruised for our iniquities. ' ' And we can look back 
two thousand years and say the same. We must realize 
that we nailed Him to the accursed Tree, before we take 
refuge in His bleeding side. The whole act must be very 
personal and very present: only then shall we get away 
from such vain and selfish questions as to who shall be 
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It is the direct, 
personal, responsible touch that we must get, if we would 
be moved aright. If I can build up nineteen centuries 
between myself and the Cross of Christ, the weight of 
responsibility will rest very lightly upon my heart. But 
when I find myself driving the nails through His hands 
and feet, and thrusting the spear into His side, I am over- 
whelmed at the enormity of my act and I prostrate myself 
before Him and plead His bleeding love. The love of 
Christ: how infinite its measure! For His prayer from 
the Cross is as vital today as when He uttered it, ' ' Father, 
forgive them; for they know not what they do." The 
appeal of the Crucified One, as we have it in verse, should 
stir the very depths of our heart: 

"O, men and women, your deeds of shame, 
Your sins without reason and number and name: 
I bear them here on the Cross on high; 
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?" 

2. "The Kingdom of Heaven." Who is the greatest 
in it? Who, after dwelling on the lines given above? 
Surely, no one would claim it who is of a broken and 



The Greatest in the Kingdom 67 



&' 



contrite heart. But what of those self-seeking disciples? 
How shall Jesus teach them their place : how humble them 
into their place? It takes omnipotence to meet the little 
things of life as well as the large ones : and the infinite 
wisdom of the Master is here made manifest. And so He 
called a little child unto Him and set it in the midst. And 
He said, "Except ye be converted and become as little 
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' ' 
What a thrust at their presumption and their pride ! The 
great question is not, What place shall we hold in heaven? 
but, How shall we get there? The man who came run- 
ning to Jesus and asked, "Good Master, what must I do 
to inherit eternal life?" had a broader vision than these 
disciples; but he lacked the consecration to follow up his 
view with saving effect. We must not only look at Christ 's 
redeeming work from the outside and find no more than 
an outward relation to it: we must find that soul-hunger 
and soul-thirst that drive us to His table and fill us with 
the fullness of His rich supplies of grace. The answer, 
therefore, goes right to the very core. Our great con- 
cern should be to get into the kingdom — that above all 
else. To have our names written in the Lamb's Book of 
Life, to be partakers of His grace, to sit with Christ Jesus 
in heavenly places: what greater longing could fill our 
hearts and inspire our lives ! And if we would center our 
thought upon these eternal certitudes, there would be no 
room for ambitious desires, no moral possibility of indulg- 
ing in baseless and unbridled reveries. 

There is so much in the life of Christ to inspire a 
reverent awe. As He stands in the ship and says to the 
winds and the waves, "Peace, be still"; as He faces the 
fierce demoniac and, with a word, drives out the evil spirit ; 
as He bows before the tomb of Lazarus and calls him back 
to life : in each case, there is an over-awing majesty which 
puts a hush upon the human spirit and makes it feel that 
it is but dust and ashes in the divine presence. But when 



68 Gospel Truths 

the soul is sore distressed ; when the cold world has chilled 
our hearts and every life-aim and life-effort have fallen to 
pieces; when we have striven to reach some lofty heights, 
and all at once an insurmountable rock looms up before 
our eyes, or an impassable gulf opens at our feet — and 
who of us has not had such experiences : to hear that sweet 
Saviour-voice, as He draws a little child to His gentle 
embrace, speaking comfort and courage : Let no false am- 
bition rule your life ; be gentle, be trustful, as one of these 
little ones; "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let 
it be afraid !" it is then that with the sweet simplicity 
of a child we give ourselves over to His tender care. Such 
is the vision we should get when conflicting emotions dis- 
turb our spirits, whether they exalt us above measure or, 
by their depressing effect, put us altogether out of heart. 
I know nothing more sublime than this scene — nothing 
that can so calm our striving, struggling spirits. It gives 
us a view of the Church as it should be, the Church as 
we should help to make it. We should expect that the 
Church, founded, as it was, by Him who was lowly in 
heart, would be the last place where men would scramble 
for the higher seats. The very opposite is a common occur- 
rence. They covet offices that will add a dignity and a 
grandeur to their name — offices that keep them before the 
public eye. It is so different from what Jesus would have 
it. A little child, scarcely looking up, abashed at His 
presence; a little child, the sweet innocency and wonder- 
ment with which it gazes upon those around it; a little 
child — no proud self-seeking in its little breast, no looking 
for applause, a simple surprise, a simple delight — that 
measures it: what an object lesson to set before these 
ambitious disciples! There is a proportion between the 
greatness of the kingdom and the simplicity of him who 
enters it. The truly great men in all ages — warriors, 
statesmen, scholars, artists — have as a rule been modest 
and retiring in their nature. And as the kingdom of 



The Greatest in the Kingdom 69 

heaven is the greatest of all kingdoms ; so those who enter 
it should be marked by humbleness of heart and life. And 
have we not the noblest example of this in Christ! He 
took upon Himself the form of a servant; He humbled 
Himself; in His mouth was no guile. And do we not 
love to think of Him as the meek and lowly one? Why, 
then, shall we suffer pride to rule our heart? Let us 
rather go softly all our days in meekness of spirit. 

3. We now come to the application as Jesus makes it : 
" Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as a little 
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ' ' To 
be great in goodness, to be great in gentleness, to be great 
in forbearance, to be great in Christian love, to be great 
in all the graces of the Spirit: that should be the ambi- 
tion of every follower of Christ. Great in the kingdom 
— a greatness signalized by humble service as well as in 
unassuming effort that the knowledge of the Gospel may 
increase: such greatness should be the holy aspiration of 
every converted life. A converted life — the very mention 
of it suggests some wholesome contrast : it is a life turned 
about the very opposite it was before — a life turned from 
haughtiness to humbleness, from self-seeking to self-sacri- 
ficing, from crowding into higher places to coming down 
to help and serve. 

And, so in the noblest Christian sense, we can all be 
great. The greatness of goodness is within the reach of 
the humblest person who hears my voice. The graces of 
the Spirit — meekness, gentleness, love: it does not take 
scholarship to practice these; it does not take gold or 
genius or keen insight. The only requirement is a con- 
verted heart — one renewed, by the Spirit, and endowed 
by the Spirit with the heavenly gift and grace. And what 
a power the Church would be if its members were gifted 
with a readiness to render lowly service — leading a quiet 
and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, seeking 
opportunities to bring comfort and encouragement and 



70 Gospel Truths 

support to those whose backs are almost broken by the 
burden they must daily bear and whose hearts are all 
but crushed by the troubles and sorrows and disappoint- 
ments that are incident to our common mortal life! The 
service of such lives would be a blessed one because of 
its direct and indirect results: direct in the case of those 
who would receive its immediate benefit; indirect in view 
of its influence upon the community life. 

But such a life, like the life of a little child, is not 
a studied one : it is spontaneous. The child is sweetly un- 
conscious of its simplicities: therein the beauty lies. And 
the pure in heart will be pure in life: there will be an 
unintentional, unplanned outflow of action from the pure 
impulse of the renewed nature. The trouble is, we lack 
the simplicity of the child-life. As soon as we do some- 
thing commendable, the old sinful nature rises up and 
demands its meed of praise: in fact, it seems quite im- 
possible for us, in our sinful estate, to do an absolutely 
unselfish act. And even where we may not be conscious 
of it, we must pray as did the Psalmist, "Lord, cleanse 
Thou me from secret faults.' ' 

The simple confidence of the child : if only we possessed 
it! What worriments and annoyances and doubts and 
fears it would eliminate from our lives. We should have 
the assurance of the prophet, "Thou wilt keep him in 
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he 
trusteth in Thee. ' ' We should rise to those sublime heights 
to which Abraham rose when the Lord took him out to 
number the stars and gave the promise, "So shall thy 
seed be. ' ' And Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
unto him for righteousness. He walked by faith and not 
by sight. 

The simple confidence of the child: why should we 
not have it? The promise is, "I will never leave thee nor 
forsake thee. ,, And shall we not believe it? The child- 
like spirit prompts it : shall we trust God less than a little 



The Greatest in the Kingdom 71 

child trusts its parent ? The simple trust is a strong trust. 
Every man of strong faith has been a man of simple trust : 
there is a perfect balancing here. Weaken one side or the 
other, and like a wall out of plumb, if the equilibrium is 
lost, it will fall to pieces. 

Let us not strive to be great in the kingdom of heaven, 
as the disciples interpreted it ; but let us strive to be faith- 
ful to every duty, the small as well as the great. And like 
the little child which clings the closer to its parent when 
danger is near, let us nestle the closer to the great Father- 
heart of our God till these calamities of life be overpast. 



IX 

LIFE: AND HOW TO LIVE IT 

Matt. 19:16-22. And, behold, one came and said 
unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that 
I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why 
callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that 
. is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the com- 
mandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, 
Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adul- 
tery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false wit- 
ness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto 
him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: 
what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt 
be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the 
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and 
come and follow me. But when the young man heard 
that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great 
possessions. 

The text presents difficulties which I shall not attempt 
to solve: it would require a long doctrinal discussion to 
do it. I have chosen these verses because they have a 
direct practical bearing upon our lives. It is not so much 
its doctrinal as its practical features that I wish to em- 
phasize. It is true, there must be a doctrinal basis to 
every practical inference : and we dare not ignore the fact. 
But "Life and How to Live it" is my uppermost thought 
— the structure of life upon the foundation of a sound 
doctrine. 

The young man who came to Christ was very much 
concerned about eternal life — how to enter it. He calls 
Him "Good Master." And Jesus seems to rebuke him 
for it; He says, "Why do you call me good? God is the 
only good one." There must be a sufficient reason for 
such a retort. As if He said, i ' God is the only good one : 
do you call me good in that sense? Do you look upon 
me as a mere man, and yet apply to me a name that 

72 



Life: And How to Live It 73 

belongs to God alone? Is this an acknowledgement that 
I, too, am divine?" There no doubt was some deep, heart- 
searching thought: though that may not have been it. 
Jesus would send the arrow home, and then turn to the 
honest question that was troubling this young man's con- 
science. And so He says, "If thou wilt enter into life, 
keep the commandments. ' ' And right here let us find 
our starting-point. 

1. The idea of life, and entrance into it : what is life ? 
How secure it f Life : the plant has life — unconscious life 
we call it. The young man, surely, had a higher concep- 
tion of life. We do not want to bind ourselves down to 
a mere vital principle, whose only power or capacity is 
to draw nourishment from the soil. Life is more than 
the unconscious absorption of mineral substance and the 
development which results from it. Life: the animal has 
life — self-conscious, world-conscious life, we call it. The 
life that knows the world about it and chooses that which 
is best adapted to its nature and which it acquires by 
instinct : we would not be satisfied with a life that is com- 
mon to birds and beasts. A life that knows nothing out- 
side of its own nature and its own wants; a life whose 
thought is limited to the things that nourish it, or the 
things that may endanger it — a concrete life: we surely 
have aspirations away beyond it. Life as man has it in 
his native estate; a life planning, toiling, saving, con- 
suming; a life struggling, fighting, killing, acquiring; a 
life with its mere moral aspects and no great eternal out- 
come: we surely would not be satisfied with such a life. 

This young man was not satisfied with it. He had 
an honest heart; he kept the outward commandment; but 
he had no rest, no peace. He felt there was something 
about life which he did not have. He hungered for it; 
he thirsted after it; and the more he tried to get it, the 
farther he seemed from it. It was a terrible soul strug- 
gle. No wonder he came running to Christ, cast himself 



74 Gospel Truths 

at His feet, and cried in agony of spirit, "Good Master, 
what must I do that I may enter into eternal life?" He 
had an unbounded desire; but his grasp was weak and 
faint. 

"God" and "Good": the words are one; one in origin, 
one in essence. There is no good outside of God; and if 
we have God, we have good in boundless measure. If we 
can say with the Psalmist, "The Lord is the portion of 
mine inheritance," then we have the promise of the life 
that now is and of that which is to come: then we have 
God and Good in one. And any good outside of God is 
not good in essence. It is artificial; and that which is 
artificial has no life. That was the trouble in this case. 
The life of this young ruler lacked the divine element: 
the breath of life had not reached it. The eternal quality 
was not there and he realized the lack of it. His heart 
was empty. He was a ruler; but honors could not fill 
it. He was rich; but money could not fill it. He had 
splendid moral qualities; but morals could not fill it. 
These were but empty baubles — brilliant, but lacking sub- 
stance. There is no good thing unless God is in it. Fill 
the heart with world treasures; and it will be empty if 
God is not there. But if God is in the heart, though 
every earthly treasure be lost, there will be rest and com- 
fort and peace. 

2. And that suggests the thought of the insufficiency 
of human standards in world interests and activities. The 
young man asked, "What good thing shall I do that I 
may have eternal life ? ' ' And Jesus gave the answer that 
suited his particular case — one that would call out the 
qualities of his heart. It was the answer of the Law, 
"This do, and thou shalt live." But a man cannot keep 
the Law in essence and spirit. It was this fact which led 
St. Paul to say, "If there had been a law given which 
could have given life, verily righteousness should have been 
by the law." In his perfect estate, man needed no out- 



Life: And How to Live It 75 

•ward law : the law of his heart was his all-sufficient guide. 
In his fallen estate, man needed the outward law, its guid- 
ance as well as its restraints. The law, however, has but 
an outward force upon the natural life: it has no life; 
it cannot give life. The keeping of the law, therefore, 
cannot give spiritual life: it is the Gospel alone that is 
spirit and life. 

And so, the Law has its limits. The sword can kill 
but it cannot make alive. The State can regulate the 
outward conduct, but it cannot quicken the inward parts. 
And that marks the dividing line between community 
moral service and Church moral service. Community moral 
service has the Law back of it, and would be powerless 
without it. At most, it makes men outwardly good by 
restraints. And therein all its value lies. It may shut 
up the drinking-house ; but it cannot quarantine the thirst. 
It may close every resort that ministers to the animal 
appetite; but it cannot put purity into the heart. In 
blocking the way to positive evil, it may do a great neg- 
ative good: it may even enable men to put their hands 
on each commandment and say, "All this have I kept." 
But there will still be a great soul want — an eternal one; 
and no community service can supply it. 

It is here where the Church's moral service performs 
its part. It does not work from the outside: it works on 
the heart and through the heart out into the life. There 
must be more than the Gospel in the pulpit ; there must be 
the Gospel in the people ; there must be holy lives to repro- 
duce in others holiness of life. And right here is a sad 
fact which we dare not ignore. Just as the State fails, 
through its appointed agencies, to curb the immoralities 
that are dissipating the energies and demoralizing the 
lives of our people — young and old alike; so the Church, 
through its appointed agencies, has not risen up to the 
demands which rest upon her in the safeguarding and 
the right-shaping of the common moral life. The Church 



76 Gospel Truths 

does too little service outside of the pulpit. It provides 
for young life on Sunday and lets it run riot, if it pleases, 
the rest of the week. It lacks rallying-point. Street in- 
fluence, work influence: it has so little regulating in- 
fluence on everyday life that it rarely touches these as 
a great living force. 

And yet, we must be careful not to topple over to the 
other side : we must not lose sight of the fact that the out- 
ward regulation of the life does nothing toward the re- 
newal of the heart. That was the trouble here. The rich 
young ruler was outwardly perfect — as human perfection 
goes. He had not broken a single commandment in out- 
ward act. Imagine a city composed of men who could 
make a like boast — every commandment kept by every 
man in it! "Would you have it — and nothing more? A 
house swept and garnished, with nothing in it — neither 
dirt nor dust: is that a home? A field without bramble 
or briar, not a root or fibre or twig of any sort, as clean 
as the sands of the desert: is that a paradise? A clean 
house, a clean field, a clean life — and nothing more: the 
utter emptiness of the negative! A cypher, with not a 
figure to give it value; a minus sign, with nothing before 
or after it: such was the condition of that young man's 
heart. It was clean; but there was no eternal element 
within it. And such is the nature of all morals outside 
of Christ. 

Where, then, shall we align ourselves? on both sides! 
We are citizens ; as such we have civic duties. These duties 
are not met by going to church and taking part in the 
service: they are met by working, as Christian citizens, 
for clean government and clean life. And moral ser- 
vice in the Church : how shall we do our part there? First, 
by the faithful performance of all our church duties ; and 
then, by leading others into the communion of saints and 
encouraging them in their Christian life. We must meet 
each one according to his peculiar wants. Has he a bad 



Life: And How to Live It 77 

habit? we must help him to correct it. Does he seem 
indifferent to his church privileges? We must try to 
quicken in him a new interest. Is he out of work or does 
he suffer want? We should help him to get employment 
and make it our business to see that he has bread to eat. 
There are a multitude of ways in which we can show 
that we have a heart for men in their perplexities and 
distresses. 

3. The sad part about this young man was that he 
did not know his own heart. He thought he knew it ; but 
he was woefully mistaken. And so, when Jesus repeated 
the Commandments, with that notable summary of the 
second Table, ''Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' ' 
he said, "All these things have I kept from my youth 
up: what lack I yet?" The outward law he no doubt 
had kept; and in that fact he took just pride. But in 
spite of it, he realized that it did not reach out into 
eternal life. And the lack of it, the loss of it, worried 
his soul. What was the trouble? The man had deceived 
his own heart. The question was, How to set him right! 

When he said, "All these things have I kept from 
my youth up," Jesus might have denied it. Truth be- 
tween man and man: words cannot settle it. An appeal 
to those present would do no good : they might have taken 
his side. Besides, the man had an honest conviction and 
he would stick to it: Jesus' word was but a human voice 
— it would have no special value in men's eyes. The only 
way to settle the dispute was by an outward test. The 
question, "What lack I yet?" gave the opportunity to 
make it. It would show the defect and the conscious- 
ness of it. Aye, the very question proved that he was 
conscious of some defect. Jesus said, "If thou wilt be 
perfect" — that is, if thou wilt cover thy defect — "go and 
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt 
have treasure in heaven ; and come and follow Me. ' ' We 
must not forget those other words, "Thou shalt love thy 



78 Gospel Truths 

neighbor as thyself." If we would fulfill that command- 
ment, must we share with our neighbor whatever we have ? 
If we have two coats, must we give him one? If we have 
two houses, must we give him one? If we have two dol- 
lars, must we give him one? That would be socialism 
pure and simple. Is that what Jesus teaches here? He 
isn't teaching socialism or anything else along government 
lines. The man had made a boast: Jesus knew that it 
was false. How shall He prove His point and make the 
man see it? He puts him to the test. And the fact that 
the man turned back with a sorrowful heart, shows that 
he could not stand the test and that he was conscious of 
it. It was not a rule of life, therefore, but the test for 
this particular man's life. 

Do I love my neighbor as I love my life? I must 
confess that I have not done it and that I cannot do it. 
Therefore I am not perfect. And therefore, on that basis, 
I cannot enter into life. It was the recognition of this 
fact that led St. Paul to cry out, "0 wretched man that 
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ! ' ' 
Had he stopped there, he would have been lost. But he 
did not stop there : he fixed his eyes upon the Cross, upon 
Him who suffered there in his place; and this was his 
triumphant shout, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
Lord." 

Perfect? Yes, perfect in Christ. Perfect? Yes, per- 
fect through the merit of Christ. That is your perfec- 
tion and mine. The outward form of the law: we can 
keep it. The spirit of the law: it is impossible to keep 
it. These outward commandments recorded here : by God 's 
grace we can keep every one — we must do it. But when 
it comes to the intents of the heart, the world and the 
flesh and the devil assailing us on every side: we cannot 
bar our hearts against their entrance. The hands, the 
tongue, the feet, these we can bridle and shackle; but 
thought and impulse and desire: how can we drive them 



Life: And How to Live It 79 

out of our hearts and keep them from coming back with 
increased force! 

There is in nature the law of compensation. Every 
creature has its special defect; but the God of nature has 
given it something to offset it. The animal that is timid 
is fleet; the animal that cannot protect its life can hide. 
For every seeming physical defect there is a correspond- 
ing something that fully compensates for it. "One thing 
thou lackest yet." It is eternal life and the gift to gain 
it. But there is a divine law of compensation: the God 
of all grace has made it. "He that believeth on the Son 
hath life." Jesus compensates for every defect of our 
spiritual nature: we are perfect in Him; we are perfect 
through Him. "What lack I yet?" Nothing — absolutely 
nothing! For "there is no condemnation to them that 
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit. " "I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. ' ' What 
a blessed estate! 



PROMISE AND PRACTICE 

Matt. 21:28-32. But what think ye? A certain man 
had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, 
go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, 
I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And 
he came to the second, and said likewise. And he 
answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. "Whether 
of them twain did the will of his father? They say 
unto him, the first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say 
unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into 
the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto 
you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him 
not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: 
and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, 
that ye might believe him. 

The Scripture everywhere make it evident that God is 
no respecter of persons: He treats all alike. If there is 
a difference in His attitude, the fault lies in man 's attitude. 
The complaint has gone up more than once: you and I 
have made it in our hearts, ''God's ways are not equal.' ' 
But God has declared by the mouth of His prophet that 
the complaint is not just: and that ought to settle it for 
all time. When He utters His voice, the earth melts : who 
can stand before His presence? No one can look upon 
God and live. 

In the parable of the text, there are two sons — children 
of the same father — each the object of his love. The one 
professes obedience ; but he does not perform it : the other 
performs obedience ; but he does not profess it. They were 
both at fault. The one started wrong ; but he ended right : 
the other started right; but he ended wrong. The mix- 
ture, in either case, was a bad one. It is, indeed, better 
to start wrong and end right than to reverse it : it is best, 
however, to start right and stay right. But there was no 

80 



Promise and Practice 81 

third son. There were only the two; and both of them 
were bad at some point of their life. 

The Parable of the Two Sons is a very plain one. As 
soon as you read it, yon get all there is in it. And that 
is what makes it so difficult a text. If there were some- 
thing subtle about it, something mysterious about it, we 
might spend the hour in bringing its deep, mysterious 
thought into the light. But parables, in their very nature, 
are plain statements of possible facts; and their teaching 
lies on the surface. It remains for us, then, to bring them 
from their far-off age and their far-away clime, and make 
them fit our age and clime. If we fail there, the whole 
thing is a failure. 

1. "A certain man had two sons; and he came to the 
first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He 
answered and said, I will not; but afterward he repented 
and went." The disobedient one becomes obedient. He 
does not make an excuse : he bluntly, rebelliously says, ' ' I 
will not do it." And here is the remarkable fact: The 
father does not coax him, nor scold him, nor try to drive 
him : he does not even ask him a second time. The whole 
incident closes right there. 

It closes: yet it does not close. It is the case of a 
wayward, self-willed child ; but a child, none the less. And 
the child-heart is there though the child-life be a way- 
ward one. The father's voice, the father's appeal, the 
father's disappointment, are branded upon his memory: 
and the longer he thinks about it, the deeper it burns 
into his heart. At last, he repents! He repents: what 
a wonderful word is that word "Repent!" Its original 
sense is, "after-thought," "after-care." And all true 
after-thought and after-care, in its self -development, be- 
comes an after-change. The change of thought, if it is 
deep and honest and sincere, produces a change in act. 
And that is just what happened here. The son repented: 
and he went! The disobedient one becomes obedient. 



82 Gospel Truths 

2. "A certain man had two sons; and he came to 
the second and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. 
And he answered and said, I go, sir ; and went not. ' ' The 
obedient one becomes disobedient. He is polite. We can 
almost see him bow and smile and cheerfully offer his ser- 
vice, as if it were the chiefest joy of his life to obey his 
father's voice. And now as to the fact. The only ser- 
vice he rendered was a lip service: he lacked truth in 
the inward parts. If we give him the benefit of the doubt 
and suppose that he was sincere for the moment, it was 
like the seed in the shallow soil, which quickly springs up 
and bids fair to yield a bountiful harvest, but soon withers 
and dies, and there is no fruitage. 

It does not say here that this second son changed his 
mind : and that is what justifies the damaging inference. His 
mind, it is just to conclude, remained the same. He had no 
intention to keep his promise. He was a hypocrite, fair in 
speech but false in heart and life. Like all hypocrites, the 
words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was 
in his heart — war against his father's wishes, war against 
his father 's interests, war against his father 's love. He was 
courteous to the outward eye : he was callous and conscience- 
less back of the outward guise. There is no heart quite as 
hard as the heart of the hypocrite. He constantly steels him- 
self against every noble sentiment, every manly impulse: 
and he becomes the bolder and the more brazen in his 
attitude. His profession becomes the more pronounced 
as his hypocrisies increase. He goes from bad to worse, 
until he reaches the stage where there is no room for re- 
pentance. The Book of Job gives the right estimate: "The 
triumphing of the wicked is short: the joy of the hypo- 
crite is but for a moment." 

3. And who, according to the text, are these two sons ? 
The one typifies the publicans and harlots — the unscrupu- 
lous life, the sensuous life : the other, the chief priests and 
elders of the people — the self-righteous life, the life of 



Promise and Practice 83 

cold religious formalities. It is an actual fact that Jesus 
found an easier approach to the hearts of those who fol- 
lowed their wayward, wanton lusts, than those who en- 
trenched themselves in their ceremonial rites and made 
themselves believe that outward observance was a substi- 
tute for inner obedience. The former had a voluptuous 
heart; the latter had a self-satisfied, self -sufficient heart. 
In the sight of God, both were sadly defective; for self- 
righteousness is as great an offense in His eyes as un- 
righteousness : neither has the least particle of saving 
grace. 

And here is the chief difference, in substance. The 
unrighteous man is conscious of the condemnation that 
rests upon his unrighteous acts. There are times when 
he loathes his sin and utterly abhors it. There are times 
when his soul cries out against it and he longs for a better 
life. But the hypocrite is proud of his hypocrisies. He 
sets his little religious formalities as the goal of a truly 
religious life. He is actually heathenish in his concep- 
tion of the religious principle. To the heathen, there is 
no connection between a religious life and a moral life: 
they have no meeting-place in the same heart. The heathen 
has his gods of lust and gods of murder and gods of 
theft — gods for every conceivable crime. He thus treats 
religion and morals as absolutely distinct. The hypocrite 
does the same. He performs his religious duties, the set 
ceremonials he has been taught; but he does not think, 
for a moment, that it implies any moral obligation on 
his part. And so he moves on, a gross sinner in his 
moral life; but a strict and consistent formalist in his re- 
ligious life. 

4. And now, let us leave these two sons, each with 
his own faults; and let us find the underlying principle 
of the parable. The call came to both alike. They were 
both children of the same home. They were both the 
objects of the same paternal love. The moral plane was 



84 Gospel Truths 

one and the same. And what does all this suggest? It 
suggests the tremendous possibilities of human life. It 
suggests the startling fact that a man has the power to 
withstand God's blessed decree. Here are two sons, alike 
in their father 's love, alike in their father 's purpose. And 
yet, the one deliberately disobeys his father's voice and 
the other penitently fulfills his father's desire. The 
father's attitude is absolutely the same — the same in 
thought, the same in act. 

The call of God to the individual heart; the call of 
God to two sons of the same home! What do we find? 
The one rejects it ; the other responds to it. What makes 
the difference? When God created the world, He spake, 
and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. He 
was dealing with matter that had no inherent power of 
resistance. But when He comes to men, He deals with 
creatures which He has made in His own image: crea- 
tures with a will which He has made free. In short, God 
made man a self -determining agent; and He will not do 
violence to a principle of man's nature which He him- 
self has planted in it. He will not break man's will: 
He would bend it. And so He stretches out His hands 
in tender appeal, "Turn ye; turn ye; for why will ye 
die!" Think of man's might. A will so stubborn, so 
strong, that it can resist God's power to change it! It 
is the might of the natural heart. And it is so commonly 
manifest! There are men whom the least temptation can 
draw aside: so weak are they in their moral nature. But 
so sin-set, sin-craving, sin-crazed, are their hearts, that 
they cannot be moved by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
And that is why world influences control the vast ma- 
jority of the human race, while church influences get so 
little hold upon men's lives. And we ministers would be 
justified in making the same charge as Stephen made, 
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart, ye do always 
resist the Holy Ghost." 



Promise and Practice 85 

5. The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom 
of God before the scribes and rulers of the people, not 
because of what they are but in spite of it. It is an 
actual fact that a riotous life is more easily brought to 
repentance than a self-righteous life: a prostitute is a 
better subject for saving grace than a purist. The for- 
mer, sick of sin, and loathing it, yields to the call of 
grace: the latter, in self-sufficiency and pride, sets up a 
stubborn resistance against it. It is not God who makes 
the difference: man does it. The same principle is op- 
erative here as was operative in the case of bodily cure. 
Along with the command of Christ went the power of 
Christ to make it effective. And when the call went forth, 
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved," along with the call to believe went the power to 
believe. And the power to believe will be communicated, 
unless men wilfully resist it. The power to resist the 
Holy Ghost is one of the plainest teachings of Scripture. 

In the case of the scribes and rulers of the people to 
whom Jesus points this parable, He shows their attitude 
and its effect. John came in the way of righteousness: 
he taught the truth and lived it. But they cut them- 
selves off from it; they would not listen to it; they re- 
fused to believe it. They would not harbor the truth long 
enough to let it take root. The publicans and harlots 
acted the very opposite, and with opposite results. If I 
give you a seed, and you do not plant it, it will not spring 
into life. If I give you a truth and you do not receive 
it into your heart, it will die. It is this that makes the 
difference between these two sons. They both heard the 
same request: the one cast it aside; the other listened 
to it and cherished it. The one failed to obey his father's 
voice: he forgot all about it. The other pondered over 
his father's appeal: he was sorry that he had despised 
it; and he turned with all his heart and cheerfully re- 
sponded to it. 



86 Gospel Truths 

And so, two people may go to church — outwardly the 
same. The one, righteous in his own eyes, goes exactly 
through all the church formalities — singing like a seraph 
and praying like a saint. And yet, he may take nothing 
to his heart: the renewing power does not reach it. The 
other, utterly lacking in churchly spirit, or disobedient 
to it, may get a message that sets the sting to his con- 
science and gives him no peace till he finds peace in 
Christ. What makes the difference? The Love of God 
is the same in each case: the merit of Christ is the same 
in each case: the power of the Holy Ghost is the same in 
each case. Why, then, are the results not the same? It 
is the fact of faith that makes the difference. And that 
faith is not a thing of natural development: it is wrought 
by the indwelling might of the Holy Ghost. We teach 
our children aright. We have them learn by heart, "I 
believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength be- 
lieve in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him; but the 
Holy Ghost has called me through the Gospel, enlightened 
me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the 
true faith. ' ' And so, faith is the gift of God : God works 
faith wherever men do not wilfully cast the truth from 
their hearts or bar the truth out of their hearts. 

There were only two sons ; and one or the other repre- 
sents you and me. When the call came to us, we were 
either cold, formal, self-sufficient moralists; or we were 
careless, indifferent creatures, following the moment's 
impulse. Let the dead past bury its dead: the great 
question is, what are we now? What is our place in 
the kingdom of Christ? We can be hypocritical there: 
we can be voluptuous there: we can be careless there. I 
sometimes fear that the bad qualities of both these sons 
cling to our natures. At times, it may be the one; at 
times, the other; at times, both at once. Like skilled 
actors, we can play three leading parts in the moral per- 
formance. And now, in sober sense, what shall we do? 



Promise and Practice 87 

Let us Kepent: let us get the "after-thought" that changes 
our attitude. And let us believe: let the truth abide in 
our hearts; let us turn it over there; and let us cherish 
it there, till it works the renovation of our lives. Then 
we shall be free from all hypocrisies; we shall be free, 
too, from the libertine spirit that so readily enters and 
so easily controls our hearts. We shall lose the bad points 
of both these sons: we shall gain their good points. And 
then, conscience within us, and our God above us, shall 
approve of our character as well as of our conduct. 



XI 

THE RESOURCES OF FAITH 

Mark 2:1-5. And again he entered into Capernaum 
after some days; and it was noised that he was in the 
house. And straightway many were gathered together, 
insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, 
not so much as about the door: and he preached the 
Word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing 
one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And 
when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, 
they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they 
had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the 
sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, 
he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be 
forgiven thee. 

The things that break the monotony of life are mile- 
stones to mark its leading events. If you look back over 
the past, you will find great memory-points around which 
cluster the things in which you have an unfading interest. 
They are the pivots of your little lifetime. 

We have come, in our text, to one of the great cen- 
tral incidents in the life of Christ. And what was not 
great when He touched it! Let us set the scene in our 
midst: let us fix our own natural eyes upon it. Here is 
a palsied man: poor creature, how is he to get to Christ? 
How reach the Master's feet? He is helpless: he cannot 
take a single step. But he has friends; and they carry 
him to the house where Jesus is preaching to the people. 
Having reached the place, a new difficulty arises : the door- 
way is thronged ; they cannot get near it. So they mount 
to the roof: they tear up the tilings: and they lower the 
man into the presence of Christ. They were bound to get 
there: they would not be thwarted in their purpose. The 
method was not a common one; but it was effective: it 
brought results. The emergency was an unexpected one; 

88 



The Resources of Faith 89 

so they adopted an extraordinary way of meeting it. We 
surely can learn some useful lessons from this unusual 
scene. 

1. The man who wants to get into the presence of 
Christ can do it. There may be obstacles; but he can 
surmount every one of them. Zacchaeus did; though he 
had to climb a tree to do it. And the man who does 
not want to get there, can find a multitude of excuses. 
And the worst of it is, he actually believes they are true. 
It is the old principle that where the treasure is, there 
will the heart be also. And out of that principle grows 
this fact: Where the heart is set, there the whole man 
will be. It is the unerring law of human life. 

To be personal and specific: If your heart is not at 
one with Christ, you will find a thousand reasons to keep 
you away from the Church of Christ. It is not the Church's 
fault any more than it is Christ's fault. Every man who 
does not want to go to church, blames the Church for it: 
it's the minister, or the people, or the music, or the ser- 
vice. And all the time, the fault lies in his own heart. 
"He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him 
aside." Let me tell you: if the spirit of Christ is in 
your heart, nothing can keep you from the place where 
prayer is wont to be made. The earnest man always 
reaches the place for which he starts. And if you are in 
earnest about getting to church, as you are about the 
business interests and social engagements that take up 
so much room in your hearts, nothing can keep you from 
crowding your way into God 's House. The vile man hunts 
out vile places; the lazy man hunts out loafing places; 
the ambitious man hunts out higher places, and the man 
of Christ will hunt out the place where Christ has recorded 
His name. As soon as I know that a man does not go to 
Church, I know that the love of Christ is not in his heart. 
And if he denies Christ by despising His Church, Christ 
will deny him before His Father in heaven. A godless life 
here means a godless life forevermore. 



90 Gospel Truths 

2. And why do men seek Christ? Herod the Great 
sought Him to take His life: the Scribes and Pharisees 
did the same. These people crowded about the door and 
shut it against everyone else. The novelty of the case, 
no doubt, drew some there. Some followed Him in sheer 
astonishment at His miracles : others, because they got 
a share of the loaves and fishes. And there were those 
who went with the multitude : they belonged to that large 
class who go where the crowd goes. And there were those 
who sat at His feet to learn the way of life: those, too, 
like this poor palsied man, who sought Christ's healing 
touch. 

Jesus meets each man according to the longing of his 
heart — the wish, the purpose, the aspiration there. Herod 
wanted to see a miracle; but Jesus scorned him: He knew 
the foxy nature of the man's heart. Nicodemus came and 
wanted to be taught: Jesus sat down and told him the 
wonderful mysteries of the kingdom of grace. There are 
people who go to church as a pastime: that is about all 
they get out of it. There are those who read the Bible 
to pervert it: they but harden their hearts. And there 
are those who love the courts of God's House: they go 
there for prayer and praise; and their souls are blest. 
If you and I come here to get at the feet of Jesus and 
worship Him in the Unity of the Father and the Holy 
Ghost, Pie will speak the peace that passeth knowledge. 
But we must be in earnest about it — as earnest as were 
those men who tore up the roof and lowered the palsied 
man into His presence. They did the unusual thing — 
not to be eccentric, but because it was the only way to 
reach Christ. There is a broad difference here; and we 
should recognize it. There are Churches that are forever 
adopting oddities to catch the floating masses. The method 
merits nothing but severest censure. Do not enter the 
house of God by the way of the roof, when the door is 
wide open with a welcome. But if there is no other 



The Resources of Faith 91 

way, do the odd thing — the grotesque thing, if need be, 
and Christ will bless your effort. There are certain church 
formalities from which we must not depart, unless cir- 
cumstances absolutely demand it. But if the circumstance 
comes, let us meet it in heroic measure, even if we must 
do a thing as unusual as did these men when they tore 
up the roof and let down the man before Christ. It is 
not the novelty: it is the necessity that must decide the 
case. And Jesus takes account of the difference. 

3. The next point I wish to emphasize is this : Christ 
is in His Church as truly as He was in that house. And 
He is there with every healing gift and grace. He is there 
to be reached by the door which He has made — the door 
of Word and Sacrament. But men have blocked the way 
by unmeaning ceremonies. In some cases, you cannot get 
to Him unless you crowd past a multitude of saints, with 
the Virgin Mary as the chief est among ten thousand! In 
some cases, a cold, complex ritualistic service is set as an 
essential avenue outside of which there is no possible ap- 
proach into His presence. The way is blocked: it is shut 
up : and Christ is cut off from the approaching people. 
No wonder people run to all kinds of extremes. No wonder 
they throw themselves awkwardly, and sometimes blas- 
phemously, into His presence. And where once there was 
a body without a spirit, need we wonder that they would 
have a spirit without a body ? All the wild-fire evangelism, 
which puffs up and flames and dies: what is it but a 
reaction from the coldness, the deadness, the emptiness of 
a nice, neat, prim, exact, smooth outward shell of a church- 
life, without either blood or brains in it? 

There are other ways of blocking the road to Christ. 
Any church method which emphasizes earth-avenues, or 
machinery propelled by earth-power; any church method 
that appeals to the animal appetite rather than to spiritual 
wants: every such church method shuts out Christ. And 
men who lack faith will not mount the roof: they will 



92 Gospel Truths 

not put forth extra or unusual effort to reach His pres- 
ence and seek His help. The reason why so few men are in 
the Church in these times, is because the Church has lost 
its power as a spiritual force. This is not something that 
comes one day and goes the next — this modern attitude. 
This has been budding and blossoming for three genera- 
tions, at least ; and now we have the full bloom of it. The 
Church secularized, commercialized, spectacularized, and, 
throughout, de-christianized: that is the blasting influence 
and effect under which we live. It has blocked the church- 
door; and men are kept out by it. As a result, they have 
formed new alliances, which suit, their natural tastes with- 
out insulting their religious instincts. And nothing can 
bring them back but the pure Gospel of grace; so that 
they know their sin as this man knew his palsied estate, 
and are carried, as was he, to the feet of Christ. 

4. It is astonishing what fills the doorway between 
some men and Christ. They would go to church; but 
there are so many bad men there: they cannot stand it. 
They will buy and sell with these same bad men ; they will 
eat and drink with these same bad men; but they will 
not be caught in church with them: that would be hypo- 
critical, and they will not play the hypocrite — they will 
be out and out what they are. And then they strut past 
with a sort of peacock pride. Is there argument in their 
attitude? Is there good common sense? Is there the 
manly spirit ? Do they really express the honest sentiment 
of the heart? Let me tell you, it is simply a subterfuge; 
and a subterfuge always has the cowardly element in it, 
and, as a rule, is the meanest sort of a lie. Jesus went 
into synagogue and Temple; and yet, there were scribes 
and Pharisees and hypocrites there. Jesus had religious 
fellowship with His disciples; and yet, there was Judas 
who betrayed Him, and Peter who denied Him, and Thomas 
who doubted Him, and all the rest who in one way or 
another proved false. And the man who sets up his con- 



The Resources of Faith 93 

duct as over against the conduct of Christ, may not be a 
hypocrite, but he is possessed of that Pharisaic spirit which, 
in point of pride, is akin to that of Lucifer, and, as in 
his case, winds up in the bottomless pit. The man who 
has the spirit of Christ goes to church for the love of 
Christ: he goes to satisfy his hungry heart: and no hypo- 
crite is big enough to bar him out. Why, then, are not 
such men at least honest and acknowledge that the love 
of Christ is not in their hearts and that this is the only 
reason why they ignore the Church of Christ ? For, after 
all, the fundamental cause lies in themselves. 

There is no barrier for the man who has set his heart 
on seeing Christ. The only way that Nicodemus could 
find Jesus was to go in the night-time : and he found Him 
and learned the way of life. The only way that Zacchseus 
could see Jesus was to climb a tree: and he climbed it, 
and the sight brought Jesus as a guest at his house where 
he made a covenant with Christ. The only way that poor 
sick woman, bent with her infirmity, could reach Jesus 
was by pressing through the crowd till she could touch 
the hem of His garment ; and she touched it and was made 
whole. And no man who has an honest purpose of heart 
will be kept away from God's House by the multitude of 
little things out of which he manufactures big excuses. 
We cannot even deceive men: let us not imagine that we 
can deceive the Lord and His Christ. 

5. The conduct of these men should shame the most 
of us. They believed in Christ's healing might; and so 
they would carry their helpless neighbor into His divine 
presence. And when they could not get near, they adopted 
the last possible resort : they tore up the roof and let the 
man down before Christ. Their conduct was not erratic: 
there was nothing spectacular about it in point of purpose. 
There was an ordinary impossibility before them, with 
no alternative; and they found an extraordinary method 
of meeting it. It is one thing to be sensational for sen- 



94 Gospel Truths 

sation's sake: it is quite different to do the sensational 
thing when necessity demands it. There are times when 
the unconventional thing must be done: times when 
the otherwise lawless thing must be done. Jesus healed 
on the Sabbath day: the Law was against it; and so, the 
ultra-legalists called Him sharply to account for it. But 
He was right ; and He demonstrated it. He went through 
the fields on the Sabbath day with His disciples. He 
plucked the grain and ate, although the letter of the law 
was against it. And He justified His act by referring to 
what David did, when he ate the shewbread, which the 
priests alone might eat. He thus made it plain that all 
ceremonial Law may be swept aside when a deep, vital 
issue is at stake. 

These over-conscientious people: I must confess, I do 
not like them: in short, I do not trust them. Scrupulous 
over trifles; and yet, in the broad, big things of life, 
you feel as if there is a lack of loyalty to ground prin- 
ciples. These people who strain at gnats but swallow 
camels : they are a dangerous element ; they somehow are 
out of moral balance, they lack moral adjustment. There 
are people who will tell you it is wrong to go to church 
by the trolley-line : it is the shallow argument of the legalist. 
There are those who are afraid that tainted money may 
desecrate the Church 's treasuries ; but they will use tainted 
methods by which they put tainted money into their 
pockets. They pile the church door full of neat little 
casuistries, shutting men out from the great loving heart 
of the Christ, who stretches out His hands and pleads with 
people, "I am the Light of the World: he that followeth 
Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of 
life." And that is what our poor souls crave: we want 
comfort and encouragement; we want the light of life! 

These men had great difficulty in getting to Christ: 
and so will you and I. A thousand and one things will 
block the way; but what of that? As a rule, the thing 



The Resources of Faith 95 

that calls for little effort gives but little result. Jesus 
went the Way of the Cross to save us. And He says 
to each one of us, "Take up thy cross and follow Me." 

Is there one in this congregation who has blocked the 
way to Christ by all manner of excuses ? I hope I have torn 
the roof off for such a one and shown him that the real diffi- 
culty lies in his own heart. And then, may Christ's word 
reach every palsied soul, and heal it, and save it. 



XII 

THE WITHERED HAND, 
THE WITHERED HEART 

Mark 3:1-5. And he entered again into the syna- 
gogue; and there was a man there which had a withered 
hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal 
him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 
And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, 
Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to 
do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil 1 ? to save 
life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when 
he had looked round about on them with anger, being 
grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto 
the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched 
it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 

The activities of Christ's life were both intensive and 
extensive. He healed all manner of diseases — the most 
stubborn yielded when He spake. In the house and the 
synagogue and the temple; on mountain side and lake 
side and wayside: everywhere He wrought perfect cures. 
A remarkable case is recorded in the text — remarkable 
in its nature and in the circumstances connected with it. 

He entered into the synagogue. Where should He go 
if not to the place where prayer is wont to be made! 
And when should He go there if not on the Sabbath 
which He himself had set apart! It is almost impossible 
to think of Jesus spending His Sabbath at home: almost 
impossible to think of Him passing the synagogue when 
it was open for service. And the manner of His life should 
suggest how we should guide our lives. 

1. A two-fold problem faced Him as He entered the 
synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered 
hand ; and the Pharisees watched Him to see if He would 
heal this man on the Sabbath day. He did not go there 
to court trouble : He went there to worship, It was trouble 

96 



The Withered Hand, the Withered Heart 97 

that courted Him, and He met it. He more than met it: 
He silenced those who brought it. It is so easy to run 
into trouble. We start out with a good purpose — start, 
it may be, for some good place; and before we know it, 
we have gotten ourselves into trouble. We may find it in 
the church, if no place else. 

The Lord had a keen sense which was altogether divine. 
We may have the same in human measure. In fact, all 
His attributes should be reproduced in us, though in finite 
degree. We shall never reach the infinite. In the life 
above, while we shall be perfect, we shall none the less 
be finite. As soon as Jesus entered the synagogue, He saw 
the withered hand. The imperfection, the disharmony, the 
defect, touched His sensitive nature — sensitive with divine 
love: and His love goes out to the man to set him in har- 
mony with the rest of his race. What a multitude of 
things must have jarred upon the mind and heart of Christ ! 
The sights, the sounds — those discords of nature; rude 
speech, rough acts: how they must have rent His heart 
strings! If a painter passes through a hall where colors 
are laid on without skill, the inartistic sight irritates his 
cultured spirit. If a sculptor moves among figures out 
of all proportion and ill-shaped at best, it is agony to his 
artistic soul. If a musician is compelled to listen to dis- 
cordant notes, it sets his nerves on edge. If these artistic 
qualities were united in one man and he moved amid like 
scenes, it would be a very hell of horrors to his sensitive 
nature. And I sometimes wonder how the pure soul of 
Christ could stand the shock that the multitudinous dis- 
harmonies of life must have given Him, without some mani- 
festation of its distressing effect. Now and then we get 
a glimpse : but so little of merited wrath ; so much of un- 
merited love. It is a beam of the divine. 

2. And now what shall He do as this two-fold diffi- 
culty faces Him? It is no time for subterfuge, no place 
for cowardly retreat: the issue is before Him and He 



98 Gospel Truths 

must meet it. The man's hand is withered: Jesus' love 
prompts Him to make it whole. The Pharisees' hearts 
are withered; and what can He do to make them whole. 
If He cures the man, He will make one friend and a whole 
synagogue of enemies. Will it pay? Can He afford to 
do it? "They watched Him"; and He knew it. He will 
do what His heart prompts: He will do what is right re- 
gardless of passing effect. He will cure the man; and 
He will so do it as to leave His enemies without excuse. 
That was His part: they will be responsible for results 
on their part. 

The matter is too important — too delicate — to be en- 
tered into without due thought. A decisive battle was 
to be fought: there must be no false movement, no fatal 
movement. And so Jesus saith unto the man which had 
the withered hand, "Stand forth." He will have the man 
come out into the clear, so that his enemies can see his 
pitiful state and thus be moved to welcome his cure. He 
goes further: He sets before them the great alternative, 
"Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do 
evil ? to save life, or to kill ? ' ' They did not answer ; they 
could not, for there was no answer to give. So they held 
their peace. 

The entire scene is very suggestive. Mark the majesty 
of Jesus as He calls this man into their midst. "Stand 
forth": let the people see your crippled state. "Stand 
forth" : let hearts of stone be softened at the sight. "Stand 
forth": let men see God's perfect power in this man's 
perfect cure. Put side by side this scene and the silly 
enactments of so-called spiritualists. What spiritualist 
ever said, "Stand forth"? Not one! What they really 
say is this : Stand back ; don 't come too close ; turn down 
the lights; things must be dim and distant or the spirits 
will not perform their part ! When this man stood forth, 
Christ cured him — his hand was made whole. What has 
spiritualism ever done? What message does it bring from 



The Withered Hand, the Withered Heart 99 

the dear ones that are gone ? What counsel, what comfort, 
what hope does it hold out in all its utterances? That 
which distinguishes it, has not a single crumb to feed the 
hungry soul. It reveals no heaven; it has no Christ; the 
spirit at last fades in unending space — so it teaches ; per- 
sonality lost, identity lost : all lost — forever lost. And 
yet some Church people run after it to their soul's hurt 
and their everlasting shame. 

3. Jesus said to this man, "Stand forth"; and he 
came forth and stood in their midst. Jesus said, "Stretch 
forth thine hand"; and he stretched it out and it was 
restored whole as the other. At His command, sickness 
fled; devils obeyed; the winds and waves ceased. Every- 
where was manifest His healing, controlling might. But 
when He spoke to the stubborn souls of men, they refused 
to obey His voice even when obedience would have brought 
them life. In short, Christ could not heal the hate of His 
enemies. And why could He not do it? Is there a limit 
to God's might? No: but there is a limit to its exercise. 
The sphere is a moral one: there the will is supreme and 
God will not do violence to it. In the beginning, He had 
said, "Let there be light; and there was light." For "He 
spake, and it was done ; He commanded, and it stood fast. ' ' 
But that omnipotent Lord, by whose word the heavens 
were made, will not take the human will by force and 
thus destroy it. He stretches out His hands to His people 
and He pleads, ' ' Turn ye, turn ye ; for why will ye die ! ' ' 
In the person of His eternal Son, He appeals in all the 
tenderness of His infinite love, "Come unto Me; and I 
will give you rest." But He never does violence to the 
will which He has created free : it would be an act of vio- 
lence to His own attributes. 

Jesus was all tenderness and love. He wept over the 
holy city ; and His words show how deeply its fate touched 
His heart, ' ' Jerusalem, Jerusalem : thou that killest the 
prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how 



100 Gospel Truths 

often would I have gathered thy children together even 
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; but ye 
would not." He used a scourge of cords to cleanse the 
Temple, but He would do no violence to cleanse their 
hearts. And mark the effect here. He looked round about 
on them with anger; He was grieved for the hardness of 
their hearts. They would keep the Sabbath; but they 
kept it as hypocrites. The bitterness of their hate on that 
holy day was the worst kind of desecration: they broke 
it in thought and wish and purpose. And they presumed 
to criticize Christ because He would perform a work of 
mercy on this man — the very kind of works which the 
prophet said He would do : and they knew it. 

The little outward exact keeping of the Law: what 
does it amount to, if the heart is full of bitterness and 
hate! The mere going to church when Sunday comes; 
the mere taking part in the service: these are not the 
measure of the religious life — they are but avenues and 
adjuncts to it. The real measure of the Christ-like spirit 
is the outgoing of the life in works of tenderness and 
mercy and love. The man who will not do good on the 
Sabbath day, does no real good any other day — good as 
God rates it: mark that fact. The man who measures 
life by legal restraints, knows nothing of the law of Chris- 
tian love. Jesus drew the line straight and distinct. They 
were legalists: so He said, "Is it lawful?" And then 
came the alternative which revealed the nasty bitterness 
of their hearts, "Is it lawful to do good, or to do evil?" 
to save life, or to kill?" There could be but a single 
answer, and none but the Pharisaic heart would fail to 
give it, Do good; save life. And that answer, unspoken 
but keenly felt, came down upon their heads like a judg- 
ment. No wonder they held their peace ! No wonder they 
went forth and took counsel with their own enemies how 
they might destroy Him ! He had exposed their hypocrisy. 
They were determined to have revenge: and they had it. 



The Withered Hand, the Withered Heart 101 

4. It is wonderful how the very hostilities that were 
stirred up against Christ, brought results that have proved 
a blessing in every age. Here is a case in point. If Jesus 
had healed that man without any question or quibble on 
the part of these Pharisees, we should simply have had an 
exhibition of His wonder working might and His marvel- 
ous pity and love. But when these men watched Him, 
with hate in their hearts, we get a moral view which 
transcends by far the mere physical effect. We get a view 
of the Law as Jesus regarded it — a view which shows it, 
not to be that unbending thing which no circumstance 
can change, but a reasonable rule of life which demands 
but a reasonable observance. We get a view of the Bab- 
bath as Jesus regarded it — a view which shows it to be, 
not a day of idleness, not a day merely for synagogue 
service, but a day which should have its works of mercy 
— its duties toward those whose hearts we should make 
glad by proper acts of Christian love. And we get, in 
addition, a view of the utter hypocrisy of men who haggle 
over little technicalities, while the great law of Christian 
Love is trampled under foot. The Pharisaic spirit, more 
than once, was the means of bringing great eternal truths 
to light. 

There are a few lessons here, which we should study 
with care, as well as apply to ourselves with care. Jesus' 
work was largely an individual one. He did not heal the 
sick by the score: it was one at a time. If you would do 
a real service in the upbuilding of the Church by gath- 
ering people into it, you must reach them one by one. 
Bring someone to Church — just one. Bring someone to 
Sunday school — just one. Center your effort on a single 
life: bring one into the kingdom of Christ. And when 
that one is securely anchored there, go out and seek some 
other one that is lost. The shepherd went into the moun- 
tain to bring back a single sheep — just one: and Jesus 
came into this wilderness-world to save your single soul. 



102 Gospel Truths 

It is personal work that counts. It was Jesus' method 
of blessing men; and His method is always safe and sane. 

This man had a withered hand: others were blind or 
deaf or lame. There were leprous people, and palsied 
people. He cured all manner of disease. And he had but 
one means of doing it: it was the direct bestowment of 
the virtue that went out from His precious life. The same 
is true of every moral defect: there is but one cure. We 
may adopt devices for meeting special evils ; we may enact 
laws against this or that vice, public or private; but they 
have no eternal outcome: they endure but a short time; 
and the last state is commonly worse than the first. The 
grosser forms of sin as manifest in drunkenness and de- 
baucheries of every sort — the one eternal cure is the Gospel 
of Christ. An ugly temper, an unruly tongue, a spiteful 
spirit, the jealousies and envies and hates which we so 
naturally nurse: what are these but the withering of the 
heart! And they will cling to us and cripple us, till 
Christ tells us to stand forth in the synagogue and there 
works our cure. That above all others is the place where 
He will do it; and the Sabbath day above all others is 
the time of His appointment. It is true, the Scribes and 
Pharisees will be there and they will make their presence 
felt. They will fuss and fume and find fault : never mind 
them or their attitude. Your poor withered heart needs 
the presence of Christ; and He will be there and will 
speak your cure. 

The House of God is not a place for men to gather 
after they have been cured of their moral and spiritual 
infirmities. It is the place for people to come just as 
they are. If they are sin-sick, and sick of sin, Christ will 
cure them. If they are ignorant, Christ will teach them. 
If they are discouraged and despondent, Christ will fill 
them with comfort and hope and cheer. When we enter 
God's House, we should enter with all our infirmities — 
conscious of their presence as was this man with the 



The Withered Hand, the Withered Heart 103 

withered hand. And when we leave, we should go, con- 
scious that Jesus has removed our burden of sin, filled 
with a sense of new strength in our hearts as surely as 
this man knew that his hand was whole and went home 
rejoicing in his cure. Then every service will give us a 
stimulating uplift. 



XIII 
A PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIFE 

Mark 4:21-25. And he said unto them, Is a candle 
brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and 
not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing 
hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any- 
thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If 
any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he 
said unto them, Take heed what ye hear; with what 
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto 
you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to 
him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him 
shall be taken even that which he hath. 

The man Jesus was no mere theorist : there was a prac- 
tical side to all He taught, and a practical way of teach- 
ing it. He dealt with the everyday things of life— rthings 
common and commonplace. He did not drag His subjects 
down to trifles; but He lifted up trifles to all the noble- 
ness of His theme. He never said smart things for smart 
effect ; but He illumined the loftiest subjects by the lowliest 
realities. And there were no stage-tricks to impress it. 
There was always a dignity, and a deep seriousness, and 
a majesty, it mattered not what He used to illustrate His 
thought. His life had a solemn significance: He never 
lost sight of it. In word and act, He measured up to 
the profound purpose of His earthly life. 

1. There is a self -revelation to the Christian life. That 
is the first teaching of the text. Jesus said, "Is a candle 
brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and 
not to be set on a candlestick?" There is a childlike sim- 
plicity here; and yet, it reveals a virile grasp on a great 
subject. The light of the Christian life must be set in 
the proper place; and there it must shine. A man does 
not light a candle and then put it where it cannot give 
out its light. We should feel anxious about his mental 

104 



A Practical Christian Life 105 

state, if he did it. If lie has any sense, he will put it 
where its light can have the best effect. And — don't you 
see the point? — if Christ, by the Gospel, has enlightened 
you in mind and heart, He wants you to move in places 
where your light can reach the farthest and have favorable 
effect upon most people. 

But the light must be in your life before it can shine 
into other lives. The Gospel in your heart — the vital part 
of it — the living flame of it — the power there: it is this 
that will lighten and strengthen the lives of those whom 
you meet. It must be no pretense. A painted candle 
gives no light: an artificial flame cannot shine. There is 
no power outside of life : in all the universe, there is none. 
If you see, anywhere, the manifestation of power, you 
know there is life back of it and, in proper sense, pro- 
portioned to it. A truth on paper has no power. The 
Bible, as a mere book, is a helpless piece of print. Truth, 
as a theory, has no force. It is truth vitalized in your 
life and mine that is vested with power in outward effect. 
If your mind, therefore, receives a truth — the mere im- 
press of it — as a piece of paper receives ink from the type, 
you get no good out of it, neither does anyone else. It 
must become the current of your life, going in a life-giving 
stream to every part of your nature : then you will become 
life and health and strength to those who come within 
the range of your influence. There is no power in truth 
until it becomes a living part of intelligent life : then it 
will operate according to the avenue through which it is 
made manifest. 

And right here is the danger-point in every life — the 
danger of the outward impress of truth without the inward 
effect. There are men who balance truth and right in the 
cold scales of thought: men who receive and retain them 
as a book receives and retains print — an impress there — 
nothing more. The life of the truth does not enter their 
lives : it has no moulding power there. They may have an 



106 Gospel Truths 

abundance of knowledge; but the heart does not lay hold 
of it; the will does not act upon it: they are simply dead 
receptacles of devitalized facts. It is the sorry plight of 
man in the state of nature and no amount of culture can 
raise him above it or train him out of it. There are multi- 
tudes of just such people — people who have a name to 
live but are dead: they do not have the light of life. And 
there are those who have the light, but they hide it ; aye, 
they actually put it out: they smother it. And these 
people are not all outside of the Church: many of them, 
indeed, are within it. And they do the Church more harm 
than good. For a lighted candle out of its proper place 
is a very dangerous thing: and a church member who 
does not hold aloft the Gospel light in all he says and 
does, stands between the light of the Gospel and those who 
should walk by it. He obscures it: he does more, he 
causes them to stumble. 

2. This matter is so important, that Jesus would em- 
phasize it by a special appeal: "If any man have ears 
to hear, let him hear." And that suggests the grave re- 
sponsibility, ' ' Take heed what ye hear. ' ' We are responsi- 
ble for the kind of doctrine which we allow to come to 
our ears. .There is a false philosophy of life — a false esti- 
mate of the liberties that are ours by natural right. In 
this so-called charitable age, we are encouraged to listen 
to everything that comes in the guise of religious light. 
Common sense as well as common practice is against it. 
We have no more right to take poison into our minds than 
we have to take poison into our bodies. We have no more 
right to expose our hearts to false doctrine than we have 
to expose our bodies to contagious disease. { If a man were 
to drink wood alcohol to see what it tastes like, the cor- 
oner's inquest would not result in a verdict that he sacri- 
ficed his life in the interests of science: the jury would 
pronounce him an ignorant inebriate or a deliberate sui- 
cide. If we are satisfied that we have the saving truths 



A Practical Christian Life 107 

of the Gospel of Christ: if we are confident that God's 
method of building us up in heart and life is by Word 
and Sacrament ; then we shall find delight in the rich pro- 
visions of His House, and we shall not be running any- 
where and everywhere simply to put ourselves under the 
spell of the latest religious novelties. 

There is an utterly false idea, these times, as to the 
real province of a church service. Its primary purpose 
is to worship God in the assembly of His saints: to unite 
heart and voice in psalm and hymn, in prayer and praise : 
to read His Word and meditate upon it; to be instructed 
in it and admonished by it. (It is God's presence that 
we seek in His House : we should meet there to worship 
Him in the beauty of holiness. That purpose is supreme ! 
If we add to it such instrumentalities as shall increase the 
joy of our hearts and make them the more responsive to 
the pulpit message, let us thank God for these inspiring 
adjuncts and use them to His praise. But whatever is 
instituted to take precedence over Word and Sacrament; 
whatever supplants the pulpit and makes it a chair of 
philosophy or sociology, or any other phase of learned life : 
whatever does this is idolatry of a refined sort. The 
worship from the pew; the Gospel from the pulpit; the 
Sacrament from the altar: these must hold chief place. 
And if we are truly renewed in heart and life, they will 
hold chief place. And then, just as our worship must 
be sincere; so we must take heed what we hear, and how 
we hear it. 

This is but one part of our responsibility : there is an- 
other equally important. And Jesus plainly states it: 
"With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you; 
and unto you that hear shall more be given." If we 
receive false doctrine, it will go out in false life. And 
we shall find, too, that our false life toward others will 
engender in them a falseness of life toward us. In thought 
and speech and act, therefore, we must be very careful 



108 Gospel Truths 

lest we exert an evil influence which, may be endless in 
evil effect. 

There is a balancing in life: as we sow, so shall we 
also reap. We shall reap the same in kind, and in quality, 
and in degree. We are the stewards of God: He holds 
us accountable for our stewardship : we dare not waste 
our Master's goods. He endows us with certain gifts; 
and He expects us to use them in His service. And for 
the exercise of our gifts, the Church affords ample oppor- 
tunity. It opens avenues of usefulness at every point : and 
everyone of them, if properly employed, makes a man the 
stronger for the regular callings of life. If a pastor could 
marshal a score or more of his young people and they 
would stand forth in the enthusiasm of their young life 
and say, ' ' Here am I, send me ' ' : he could use their spare 
moments for a lifetime. And they would not only bless 
the Church by their service: they would bless themselves. 
For there is always a counter effect to all true effort, and 
the saying of Christ applies here, "With what measure ye 
mete, it shall be measured to you." The one who hears 
the call and obeys it, shall be blest with increased gifts. 
There is a normal development to all true exercise whether 
in the field of nature or the sphere of grace. 

A two-fold responsibility, therefore, rests upon us : To 
receive the right kind of doctrine by taking heed what we 
hear ; and to give our strength to the right kind of activi- 
ties, so that in blessing others we shall bring a blessing to 
ourselves. And these two things should have our best 
thought and effort: they are the very pivots of doctrine 
and life. Wholesome food, healthful exercise: they make 
the man strong in the Lord and in the power of His 
might. 

3. And now, we find a common rule governing the 
outcome — a rule which reaches both ways, and whose 
effects correspond with the conditions under which we live 
and act. It is implied in the words, "For he that hath, 



A Practical Christian Life 109 

to him shall be given; and he that hath not, from him 
shall be taken even that which he hath." If a man does 
not use the gift with which God has blest him, that gift 
will die. The gift of walking and talking is in every child : 
it is a part of its nature. But if that gift is not developed, 
the ability to exercise it will be lost. The gift of teach- 
ing lies within us: to learn and to teach spring from the 
same source. But if one grows up without exercising this 
gift, the time will come when he will be too old to acquire 
it. If the Church is to have capable leaders, the boys 
and girls must be trained in church methods and church 
work and church life. The gift to work aright does not 
drop down from the skies: the gift to work as well as 
the gift of grace is a development. And it depends upon 
ourselves, by God's grace, to train into service that which 
He has implanted in us by nature or grace. The proper 
grouping, therefore, of the young people of the Church for 
service along all the lines of the Church's activities, will 
make them capable as men and women to conduct the 
greater work that will await them when they are put in 
charge of the Church 's interests. And then, home life and 
work life, as well as church life, will share in the blessings 
that go with all true culture of mind and heart. It is 
practice that makes perfect : it is the exercise of our gifts 
that makes them effective in every branch of service. Just 
as civilization goes with the Gospel of Christ; so efficiency 
constantly accompanies it. 

And here, too, is where the application of Jesus' words 
finds its proper place: "He that hath not, from him 
shall be taken even that which he hath." The gift unde- 
veloped will die for want of exercise. If a man were shut 
up in absolute darkness for half a life-time, he would lose 
the gift of sight. The lack of muscular exercise will, in 
time, deprive the muscle of the gift of development as 
well as the gift of use. And if we fail to use our God- 
blest gifts, the inherent power which God has put within 



110 Gospel Truths 

them will be lost. Two children grow up side by side: 
they have the same environment; they have the same op- 
portunities; they may have the same endowments. The 
one rises into prominence ; the other sinks out of sight. It 
is not the result of the difference in native gifts/ but in 
the exercise, the development, the normal use of the gifts. 

And we can follow the same thought along moral lines. 
The Lord endows every Christian with the gift of grace. 
But he receives the gift in an undeveloped state. By the 
grace of God, every moral gift may be made strong through 
its exercise. Every temptation met and mastered makes 
us strong to meet and master the next one. And so we 
move on conquering and to conquer: we do it by God's 
enabling might. And then, there is that other side of it. 
If we yield to the evil besetments of life, we shall become 
moral weaklings, and our power of resistance will die and 
we shall become the sport of every evil influence. It is 
upon this principle that habits are built — good and bad 
alike. * 

The words of the text, therefore, give us a wonderful 
view of the Christian life. In the first place, the Christian 
life must be one of light — not a hidden light, like a candle 
under a bushel, but a light set up in its own proper sphere 
and shedding light that others may walk securely in safe 
places. The Gospel light within us must shine round 
about us. 

The Christian life is one of grave responsibility. It 
must guard against false doctrine, so that no false prin- 
ciples may enter the heart and turn it from Christ. Hence 
those warning words, "Take heed what ye hear." And 
it must guard against false practice, so that it will measure 
out that which blesses and come again in blessed measure. 
It must operate upon the principle of seed-time and 
harvest. 

And the Christian life, like any other life, follows an 
unerring Law. A useful life is a productive life : the man 



A Practical Christian Life 111 

who enriches others enriches himself : the very process does 
it. In making others happy, you are made happy. Charity 
is twice blest : it blesses him that gives and him that takes. 
And the opposite is equally true. By failing to exercise 
our gift, we lose the ability to use and enjoy it. And as 
to the good we withhold, we find no pleasure in it. Our 
duty is plain : to scatter blessings all along the path of life 
and thus glorify God in our bodies and spirits. 



XIV 

THE SPIRIT THAT REJECTS 

Mark 6 : 1-3. And he went out from thence and came 
into his own country; and his disciples followed him. 
And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach 
in the synagogue: and many hearing him were aston- 
ished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? 
and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, thaf 
even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is 
not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of 
James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are 
not his sisters here with us? And they were offended 
at him. 

There is one thing that always pleases me: it is that 
passage of Scripture which occurs more than once, telling 
us how Jesus went from place to place, doing works of 
mercy and love; and then comes the added statement — 
the one that pleases, "And His disciples followed Him." 
It mattered not where Jesus went, they went with Him: 
if they left Him alone, it was His choice. In Temple and 
synagogue, on mountain side or seashore: the disciples 
were there because their Master was there. 

I cannot help but point the moral right here. If people 
would only couple everything with Christ, or Christ with 
everything : what a mighty moulding force that would be ! 
If they would only stay from places where Jesus would 
have no part; if they would only go to such places where 
He was sure to resort, the churches would be full, and 
world-places would shut their doors for want of patronage. 
But in this pleasure-seeking age, the most of people go 
to the place where they will find the best entertainment. 
It is the common practice; and the thought of it makes 
one sad at heart. 

1. We have here a simple statement of fact: "And 
He went out from thence, and came into His own coun- 

112 



The Spirit That Rejects 113 

try; and His disciples followed Him." They just went 
where He went: they did it as a matter of course. What 
else could they do ? Where else could they go ? You recall 
the sorrowful occasion when many disciples went back and 
walked with Jesus no more. And He turned to the Twelve 
and said, ' ' Will ye also go away ? ' ' Then Peter, in puzzled 
surprise, answered for the rest, "Lord, to whom shall we 
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." As soon as 
men realize that the greatest thing in the world is eternal 
life, and that the Church, as the institution of Christ, 
has the words that reveal it and impart it, then, and not 
till then, will they fill God's courts with praise. It was 
this supreme confidence in Christ that led His disciples to 
follow Him from place to place. There was soul-emptiness 
without His presence and they were at all times keenly 
conscious of it. 

"And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to 
teach in the synagogue." It is just what we might expect 
— nothing short of it. The Sabbath day found Him in the 
only true Sabbath place: it found Him engaged in that 
which belonged to His prophetic office. And, the only 
thing thinkable, His disciples followed Him there. We 
cannot imagine, for a moment, that Jesus would go into 
the synagogue and tell His disciples to stay outside. We 
cannot imagine that they would go there, except to be 
with Him, and fellowship with Him, and listen to His mes- 
sage. And I often wonder if Church people do the same. 
We know the fact, ' ' The Lord is in His Holy Temple. ' ' We 
know the promise, "Where two or three are gathered to- 
gether in my name, there am I in the midst of them. ' ' But 
do we live up to this fact and this promise ? Is it our one- 
absorbing thought, "I am going to Church because my 
Lord is there: I am going to Church to hear His mes- 
sage of truth and grace: I am going to worship Him and 
seek the strength His presence imparts!" That is the 
spirit and purpose which should bring us into God 's House : 

8 



114 Gospel Truths 

and into that spirit we should train ourselves every day 
of our lives. 

Let us finish the verse : ' * And many hearing Him were 
astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these 
things ? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, 
that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands ? ' ' 
The multitude heard Him — listened intently while He 
spake; and they heard Him with astonishment. It was 
a mixed class of people, an everyday class of people. And 
yet He taught ; and as they listened, they were filled with 
amazement at His wisdom and knowledge. He taught in 
the synagogue : let me emphasize it. And what He taught 
was Christian doctrine. And these common people found 
delight in it. When I hear a man saying that he does not 
like doctrinal preaching, I know what he wants : he wants 
to be entertained from the pulpit, not taught from it; he 
wants to hear soft sentimentalities that will bedew his eyes 
and bring a lump to his throat ; he wants a jingle of words, 
though it be a jungle of thought. In short, he would have 
the pulpit of the "Sunday-supplement" type. But the 
true disciple of Christ does not want novelties to make him 
gape and gaze: he wants to hear of Christ — His loving 
sacrifice for poor sinners' sake — the old, old story of Jesus 
and His love. 

And doctrine, rightly presented, will create the pro- 
f oundest sentiment and command the truest respect. Jesus 
never failed to interest the people. It is true, when He 
came to the point of moral pressure, many turned aside. 
But when healing power was added to it, they pressed 
close: they would not lose one word He spake. And are 
there no miracles of grace? Is there no power in the 
Church, and the ministrations of the Church, to make 
people halt in the mad rush of the times ? Take the power 
of the Church out of this nation, and would you want to 
live here? I know there are a great many people who 
profess Christianity but do not live it. I know, too, there 



The Spirit That Rejects 115 

are people who claim to live Christian lives, but do not 
profess it. In the former case, they are bad in spite of 
Christian influence: in the latter case, they are good be- 
cause of Christian influence. It is Jesus Christ who has 
made this world as good as it is, and no one else. And 
if the religion He taught were taken out of it, darkness 
would once more cover the land and gross darkness the 
people. The Gospel is still performing miracles in cleansing 
men's thoughts and sanctifying their lives. 

2. And the power of Christian doctrine does not de- 
pend on the personality of him who presents it. The seed 
is made no better, no worse, by the character of the man 
who sows it. Good or bad, white or black, though he be, 
the power is in the seed, not in the man whose hand scat- 
ters it. If a man had to be absolutely pure in order to 
preach the Gospel aright, we could have no peace of con- 
science: we cannot look into men's hearts and see just 
how pure they are. And so, in one important sense, it 
matters not who preaches the Gospel, if only it is the pure 
Gospel of Christ. For no mere man can take the power 
out of it. And yet, there is a very vital sense in which 
it does make a great difference. The difference, however, 
is not on the part of the Gospel — it remains the same; 
but on the part of those who hear it. A prejudice against 
the man creates a prejudice against the message. If we 
despise the man, we are likely, at the same time, to despise 
his words, though they be the very Gospel of Christ. The 
Word of God is the food of the soul; but no one likes to 
take food out of filthy hands and eat it. The cleanest 
and the best food will disgust us in proportion to the dis- 
gust created by the man who handles it. And so, we are 
in perfect accord with that Scripture which raises the 
question, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" 
— that is, to minister there? And then comes the answer, 
and the only answer that will satisfy you and me, ' i He that 
hath clean hands and a pure heart." While the power 



116 Gospel Truths 

of the Truth, therefore, does not depend upon the per- 
sonality of him who preaches it, the effect of the truth, 
in the very nature of the case, is measured by it. The 
difficulty does not lie in the truth — its power is always 
and everywhere the same; but in the hearts of those who 
hear it. 

There is danger, however, in looking to the man more 
than to the message. And that is a great mistake, and 
a fatal one. It was so here. The people said, "Is not 
this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, 
and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon ? and are not his sisters 
here with us? And they were offended at him." All at 
once, they seemed to forget the wisdom of Christ and His 
miracles. They saw Him as a man with a common trade, 
as a man in a common home, as a man with mother and 
brothers and sisters, like themselves. And they took of- 
fence at Him and His doctrine. The human discredited 
the divine. 

That is still the case with many people. They ad- 
mire the teachings of Christ : they wonder at His miracles : 
they acknowledge that there is nothing, in all history, quite 
as beautiful as His life. They will even say with Nicode- 
mus, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from 
God; for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, 
except God be with him." But when they read that He 
was born a helpless babe, that He was a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief, and that He died and was laid 
in the grave ; then they take offense when He says, 1 1 1 and 
my Father are one." They deny that He is true God, be- 
gotten of the Father from eternity, as well as true man, 
born of the Virgin Mary. The purely human side is so 
evident that they refuse to accept the divine side. 

3. It is strange how people are moved by the man 
rather than by his message. If he has a striking appear- 
ance and a pleasing personality; if he makes a show of 
world-wisdom, with a spectacular way of presenting it: 



The Spirit That Rejects 117 

they do not care what he preaches. All they want is the 
enthusiasm of his presence, the brilliant bubbles he blows 
to their infinite delight. It is the parade and the pyrotech- 
nics that entrance the multitude. I venture to say that 
at this very hour, there are more people following their 
natural bent than are gathered in all our churches. The 
service of God's House is too tame for their perverted taste : 
their palates crave world-spice ; and they will go where they 
can get it. And yet, "The Lord is in His Holy Temple" : 
and the church bells are ringing out their Sabbath wel- 
come, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into 
His courts with praise/ ' 

I am not finding fault : I am simply stating facts. And 
if the facts are not creditable, sin lies at the door of those 
who are responsible for their existence. The simplicity of 
the church service, the humbleness of the man who presents 
the Gospel message: these are the barriers that shut up 
men's hearts. The people of the text lost sight of the words 
and works of Christ: they thought only of the man and 
his family ties. And when they found that these were 
common, every-day people, they rejected both Him and 
His message. It seems to be a part of human nature to 
put the person above the truth he presents. It is a sor- 
rowful fact that the human side of the Church draws or 
repels most people — the divine side being pushed clear 
out of sight. If the pulpit is blustery and bright, or filled 
with pleasing grace, the multitude will gather there, re- 
gardless of the truth or untruth of what it injects. If the 
choir is one of the rapturous sort, or carries people by 
the ears into ecstasies : then it matters not what they sing, if 
only the emotional is in the ascendant. If the congrega- 
tion will have a prelude and a postlude of gush and gossip, 
with a hand-shaking tournament to punctuate it, though 
it sugarcoats hypocrisies and lies, people swallow it and 
show by their smile that they like it. This is no mere pen- 
picture; it isn't the effervescence of a disgruntled nature: 



118 Gospel Truths 

it is the unvarying fact that every faithful pastor is called 
upon to face. And more than once the cry is wrung 
from his heart, "And I, even I only, am left." 

We want pleasing manner in the pulpit ; we want good 
singing by the choir; we want people to be cordial and 
considerate, especially toward the stranger within our 
gates. But above these — aye, infinitely above, we would 
place the worship of our God: it is supreme; and what- 
ever weakens it, or overshadows it, or crowds it out, is 
idolatry of the grossest type. God's curse is upon it, and 
it will sooner or later be manifest. The ground of offence 
is ever the same: it is, in spirit, that which was urged 
against Christ, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of 
Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and 
Simon: And are not his sisters here with us?" The 
Church's conflict never changes. 

Now, all such people dishonor God : they treat the mes- 
sengers of His choice with contempt. They seem to think 
that He must have great men to do a great work. They 
lose sight of that fact that He may use the humblest instru- 
ments to do the noblest service. He is not limited by 
human instrumentalities. The history of the Church re- 
veals the fact that He chooses the good rather than the 
great. Spiritual life stands first : personal gifts and graces 
must take second place. The "who" of the man must 
be lost in the "what" of that which he teaches. The man 
comes and goes; but the message abides. 

There are just two things to bring us here : the worship 
of God and the message of His grace. Whatever is more 
than these cometh of the evil one. We worship Him in 
chant and prayer and song of praise. He gives His mes- 
sage from the Bible, and from the pulpit whose utter- 
ances are based upon the Bible. The men who minister 
these are but human instrumentalities : they are the pass- 
ing; the other is the permanent. 



XV 

A BAD MAN WITH GOOD POINTS 

Mark 6 :20. "Herod feared John, knowing that he was 
a righteous holy and a man, and kept him safe. And 
when he heard him, he was mnch perplexed; and he 
heard him gladly." 

We have a remarkable man in the text. He was a man 
of mixed motives. If you study one side of his life, you 
will say, What noble qualities! If you study the other 
side, the effect will be the very opposite. Herod was a 
politician of the shrewd sort. He favored and flattered 
Rome, whence his power came: he attended the Feasts of 
the Temple and helped to keep sacred that Holy Place. 
He stamped no images on his coin to remind the Jews that 
they were subject to Rome. And when Pilate would have 
set up a votive shrine in the Temple and thus desecrate it, 
he protested against the unholy act. A shrewd man was he. 

But his personal life, his family life, was a wicked one. 
He divorced his wife that he might marry another man's 
wife: it was a most wicked act. And besides, she was a 
near relative — a niece: and that was an incestuous act. 
Adultery and incest : the two lowest, vilest moral crimes — 
crimes in which the baser passions play the chief part. 
What wickedness in high places! Politically shrewd, re- 
ligiously exact, morally corrupt: it sounds as though the 
man belonged to the present age. And now, let us look 
at the particular incidents brought out in the text relative 
to this man of mixed motives. 

1. " Herod feared John." And yet, John was in 
prison: it was Herod who had put him there. Afraid of 
a man with chains on his feet ! Afraid of a man who had 
never raised his hand to strike ! It surely was not a phys- 

119 



120 Gospel Truths 

ical fear — a fear that John might break loose and make an 
attempt upon his life. It must have been a moral fear — 
a fear that conscience puts into the wicked heart. Aside 
from that fact, there were several reasons why Herod should 
fear John. In each case, however, it was conscience that 
made a coward of the man. 

The people held John for a prophet. And Herod, like 
any other man in office, could not be indifferent to public 
sentiment. The preaching of John had made a mighty 
impression upon the masses. They had flocked to him 
from all sides. They had come with the great questions 
of their lives: they had been baptized of him in Jordan 
confessing their sins. And the multitude, as they came 
and went, were not only impressed by the deep earnest- 
ness of his nature: they were convinced of his divine ap- 
pointment. And Herod spared John's life, not because 
he eared for it — he was a murderer at heart; but because 
he feared the people. He could not face the reproaches 
of an outraged public. 

Herod feared John. He held him in awe, because 
John was strong and true and stood for the right. The 
bad point in Herod's life was his weak point: the good 
point in John's life was his strong point. And when the 
bad king did a bad act, the good prophet threw the whole 
might of his moral nature against it. It was like the as- 
saulting army centering its strength upon the weak flank 
of the foe. It swept everything before it. Herod had 
done wickedly, and wickedness is weakness. John, his 
righteous wrath intensified by the king's unrighteous act, 
threw himself against it. And Herod trembled at his 
presence. 

There is a principle operative here which holds good 
everywhere. And there is the same human nature work- 
ing out its devices according to the limitations of the 
times. There are men in office — I pity the poor creatures 
— men who are afraid of the powers above and of the 



A Bad Man with Good Points 121 

people beneath and back of all office. It is a wholesome 
fear: it were well if there were more of it. Politics is 
sufficiently corrupt: it would be infinitely worse if it were 
not for the fact that men, like John, with fearless nature, 
will reprove them to the face and before the public. And 
there is that personal side to this fact of the text for 
you and me. Your strength and mine lies in the purity 
of our principles and the justness of our cause. If we 
are right — right at heart, right in life — there is no earthly 
power above us of which we need to stand in awe. The 
good man has a brave heart; the bad man has a cowardly 
heart. The good man has nothing to fear from exposure; 
the bad man shrinks from it. Conscious of truth and 
right on our side, we can brand sin and shame, and evil 
devices and evil doings of every sort, wherever they meet 
the eye. The strength of the man is his heart — conscious 
integrity there, vital force there. John had it; Herod 
lacked it: that is why the king trembled before his sub- 
ject. And you and I will be weak or strong, as we 
incline to either side. 

2. The text further tells us that Herod kept John 
1 'safe." There were two mighty forces working upon 
Herod from the outside: the influence of John, and the 
influence of his wife. And there were two mighty forces 
working in his heart: the truth stung it, and wicked im- 
pulses goaded it. He had heard John ; for John had told 
him to his face, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy 
brother 's wife. ' ' And that rankled in Herodias ' heart ; and 
she urged and insisted that John must die. Here then was 
conflict: and poor Herod had to battle under it. And 
yet, it was his own deliberate sin that got him into all 
this trouble. 

There is the record of an additional fact, ' ' He was much 
perplexed." How could it be otherwise? The keen chas- 
tisement of John must have stirred up some spirit of re- 
venge. And yet, something deep down in his heart told 



122 Gospel Truths 

him that he deserved it. Thus the very worst elements 
of his nature and the very best, were set in bitter con- 
flict. The outer pressure and the inner sense: what a 
very hell it must have made in his heart ! He had sinned : 
he knew it. His wicked wife thirsted for vengeance: he 
knew it. John was a holy man and just: he knew it. 
And what shall be the reconciling point? How appease 
his wife and not do too great an injustice to John, and, 
in a measure, satisfy his own conscience? He will do as 
most men do: he will make a compromise. And so, he 
put John into prison. And then, no doubt, he flattered 
himself that he had done a very generous deed. And 
what is the sum total ? He soothed, just a little, Herodias ' 
wrath; he satisfied, to some extent, his own craving for 
revenge; he saved, for a time, John's neck from the axe. 
I am afraid the most of us are disposed to play the 
part of Herod on a small scale. And I am certain that 
we are often in the same plight. We listen to the words 
of the preacher; in our hearts we assent; but we have 
formed habits and made alliances which are in conflict 
with the Gospel of Christ. And so, we too are perplexed : 
we are in a strait. And in too many cases we try to 
effect a compromise. We will be just a little wicked: the 
gross forms of sin we will discard. We will not crush 
the life out of the good: we will hamper it and cage it. 
We will pare down both sides. We will cut off the grosser 
forms of sin and indulge it in milder degree. We will 
not throttle the good: we will only disarm it. And we 
will bring the two to the borderline of decency and respect. 
I want to tell you that these borderline bad men and these 
borderline good men are the most dangerous elements in 
our social life. They are too good to be in jail, and too 
bad to be out of it. They are too bad to be in office ; and 
they are just good enough that you cannot keep them out 
of office. They are too good to be left out of our social 
life ; and they are too bad to be allowed to enter it. They 



A Bad Man with Good Points 123 

are too bad to be in the Church, and just good enough 
to escape its discipline. And so, they have a mighty hold 
on both classes of people, the bad and the good. 

But at heart they are not happy. For while a man may 
deceive the multitude, he never deceives his own heart. 
The most of us are like Herod: he was under two antag- 
onistic influences. And between the two fires, he stood 
in awe. And these two forces, working upon our lives, 
make us miserable. The right and wrong within us, the 
good and bad within us, are in constant conflict. And 
we must throw ourselves absolutely with the right. At 
first, Herod only put John into prison: at last, he sent 
him to the axe. At first, we may stifle conscience and 
salve it; at last, we will smother and kill it. That is the 
history of every man who goes to the gallows; the his- 
tory of every man who fills the drunkard's grave. It 
is the history of all crime and immorality, the history of 
every brutish and beastly life. 

3. The text rather surprises us at this point when 
it says, that Herod heard John gladly. We hardly ex- 
pected it. There is commonly a quick-step from bad to 
worse. Here there seems to be a check to the down- 
ward course. But it is by no means an unnatural one. 
A great man appeals to a man that is great. Herod was 
great along political lines: John was great along moral 
lines. There was a lofty nature about John that was 
irresistible. And Herod came under the powerful spell. 
And when John met him with the mighty message, "Re- 
pent: Bring forth fruits meet for repentance," Herod 
could not escape its truth and force. And there was 
the eloquence of an earnest nature — the eloquence which 
conviction enhances and to which a personal interest gives 
added force. Herod must have felt that John's reproof 
was not a mere pique: it was forced from the heart by 
the power and love of truth which ruled there. It was 
the outburst of a manly courage that could not keep quiet 



124 Gospel Truths 

when a great social wrong was done — an evil which, if 
tolerated in the people, would blast and blot out their 
national life. And Herod must have felt it. Besides, we 
infer that Herod had more than one conference with the 
Forerunner of Christ. And as they discussed this great 
burning question — the question of his unlawful marriage, 
what a charm there must have been to the man's argu- 
ment! How, again and again, he must have driven the 
truth home to Herod's heart and made the man wince 
under the piercing thrust. And yet, it would seem that 
Herod would come back for more of it. 

And that, surely, is reproduced in many a life: in 
greater or less degree, it is common to most lives. A man 
of impelling eloquence draws the multitude. There is a 
charm to his tongue that catches attention and quickens 
interest. There are men who spend the week in sharp 
practice, men who indulge in all kinds of debaucheries, 
men, it may be, who are guilty of crime; and yet, they 
will go to church and will be moved by the sermon as 
well as take part in the service. And more than once, 
no doubt, they are brought beneath the lashing of con- 
science and smart under it. But as Herod was married 
to a wicked woman so they are wedded to their lusts. 
And as long as the bond lasts, so long will they be slaves. 
Herod fellowshiped daily with his wicked wife: he heard 
John at irregular intervals, as mood might suggest. And 
the man who finds his chief pleasure in the companion- 
ship of those who give themselves over to all kinds of 
revelries and debaucheries, is not likely to be moved per- 
manently by an occasional appeal from God's prophet. 

And the trouble is, people praise men of that sort. 
Herod went to the Temple and kept the Feasts. Herod 
debarred from the Temple that which would be an abomina- 
tion to the place. Herod issued coin without any image 
upon it. Herod stood out strongly for religious externali- 
ties. That was the good side of his life. But it had its 



A Bad Man with Good Points 125 

bad side. Herod divorced his wife: it was gross wicked- 
ness to do it. Herod married another man's wife — his 
own niece: it was a double crime. Herod put John into 
prison because John had said, "It is not lawful for thee 
to have thy brother's wife." And balancing the wicked 
over against the good, the good is simply blotted out by it. 
Let us not be deceived by men of that type: above all, 
let us not deceive ourselves. No amount of good deeds 
can cover a bad act. No amount of church attendance 
can atone for an adulterous life. No amount of outward 
respect for the truth, and for him who proclaims it, can 
keep a man from going from bad to worse. The man 
who, at first, kept John safe, at last cut off his head. It 
is the logic of every wicked life. 

We have talked about Herod and his adulterous wife: 
we have talked about men of like type, dealing very 
broadly in generalities. But unless we find ourselves 
somewhere in the text, this sermon shall have failed of 
its ultimate purpose. And so, let me put the plain ques- 
tion to you: Have you found yourself anywhere along 
the line? Do you so guard the Church that nothing may 
enter to defile it? and is your heart wide open to every 
evil influence ? Are there bad sides to your life that more 
than balance the good sides? And do you not know that 
the love of God and the lust of the flesh cannot dwell 
side by side in the same heart? It seems to me that a 
little self-examination, and a little self-castigation, might 
be profitable. Let me tell you very candidly : You can- 
not support the Church and keep John in jail at the same 
time. You know what I mean: You cannot put anyone 
under the ban of your hate, or your spite, or your ill- 
will, or your contempt, and expect your interest in the 
Church to overbalance it. Herod did a great deal for 
dered the only man who dared to tell him the truth to 
his face. And all the money we pay into the Church, and 
the Temple; but he lived an adulterous life; and he mur- 



126 Gospel Truths 

all the work we do for it, will be but abomination in God 's 
sight if we harbor wicked lusts in our hearts. Our world- 
life and our church-life must be one : there must be virtue 
and truth and love, making week-day and Sunday, work- 
life and church-life, an inseparable unit. 



XVI 

THE RELIGION OF CURIOSITY 

Mark 8:11-13. And the Pharisees came forth, and 
began to question with him, seeking of him a sign 
from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in 
his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after 
a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be 
given unto this generation. And he left them, and 
entering into a ship again departed to the other side. 

A great scientist is responsible for the statement that 
the human race, in point of moral and intellectual develop- 
ment, has made but little advancement in all the history 
of this earthly age. It is a serious charge and a startling 
one. And the worst of it is, it is quite true to fact. In 
some respects, of course, we are ahead of all ages ; in others, 
we have to sit at the feet of the ancients: and we shall 
have to sit there a long time. In short, we shall never 
be able quite to take their place. There has been steady 
progress along the line of the useful arts, and we have 
not reached the limit of possibilities; but when it comes 
to painting and sculpture, to poetry and philosophy, we 
go back more than two thousand years for the best ex- 
amples. 

If you enter the field of morals, the same conditions 
exist. No man has yet improved on the Law of Moses 
or Christ's Sermon on the Mount. The great Bible char- 
acters stand out as models for every age. And when it 
comes to the bad side of human nature, our worst in 
essence is fully as bad as their worst. Did they kill off 
their old people? We send ours to the poor-house, and 
break their hearts by the unnatural act. Did they cast 
out their new-born babes to the wild beasts? It is a com- 
mon practice now to murder them before they are born, 

127 



128 Gospel Truths 

with some disreputable doctor to aid and abet it. The 
criminals of old were savage as brutes: in our day, they 
wear kid gloves and support public charities. There is 
but little difference: the same bad heart has the same 
bad blood flowing through it. 

It is not my purpose to particularize along these lines : 
though we might do so with profit. I propose, rather, to 
take a single element in our nature- — one that is not so 
desperately wicked; and show that two thousand years 
have made but little change in character and conduct. 

1. There were curious people in the time of Christ, 
regardless of their culture. It is not a matter of sur- 
prise, therefore, that the Pharisees came to Him and sought 
a sign from heaven. They wanted some spectacular dis- 
play, something to make them stare in astonishment. It 
was their constant subterfuge, "Show us a sign and we 
will believe. " It is the old Athenian spirit universally 
alive. The people of Athens, you know, and strangers 
there, "spent their time in nothing else but either to tell 
or to hear some new thing.' ' It was the novelties of the 
age that brought the gossiping crowd to some common 
meeting-place. 

And this curious streak is not a rare accident of life. 
Some of us may curb it; some of us may smother it; but 
the most of people like to indulge it. And nowhere is it 
more manifest than along religious lines. There are peo- 
ple who watch the papers for odd pulpit subjects; and 
the Church that advertises the grotesque will crowd its 
aisles. It is not a case of the hungry heart seeking the 
food that will comfort and strengthen it : it is the craving 
of a perverted taste, which will be satisfied only with that 
which intoxicates. The advocates of a law prohibiting the 
use of intoxicants have put forth superhuman effort till 
they have accomplished their purpose. I am just as much 
interested in sobriety of life as they are. But I am con- 
fident of this one thing: it is not that which goes in at 



The Religion of Curiosity 129 

the mouth which defiles the man so much as that which 
rankles in the heart. What is the heart feeding on ? What 
does it drink into its deepest recesses? What intoxicates 
it? Our boys and girls are getting drunk on extravagant 
literature, on the comic pictures of the Sunday papers. 
on cheap shows, on blood-curdling moving pictures, and 
the like. Their hearts and minds become utterly debauched 
and debased; and when these child-forms of intoxicants 
have lost their charm, they turn to that which bloats and 
brutalizes and blasts. The true temperance movement be- 
gins with the childlife: it is careful as to what a child 
reads and sees, as well as what it eats and drinks. The 
child habit of indulging in all the excitements of trashy 
stories and trashy pictures and trashy plays, lays the 
ground work of a dissipated life and fills our reformatories 
and penitentiaries and poor-houses. It starts with a de- 
praved appetite — the craving of the natural heart; and 
soul and body are damaged by it. 

And unless the Church can satisfy that spirit which 
finds pleasure in the novel and grotesque, they will have 
nothing to do with it. That is the chief trouble of the 
times. The young people find no pleasure in Church ser- 
vice, not because the Church has nothing to give, but be- 
cause they lack the capacity to receive. Do you suppose 
that our boys and girls can revel in stories of hair-breadth 
escapes, or pictures that appeal to the baser passions, or 
plays that satisfy the lower cravings of the natural heart, 
and then be glad when Sunday comes so that they can 
study the Bible and take part in the services of God's 
House? A perverted taste must have the perversions of 
life to satisfy it. And what shall be the corrective ? The 
Home! Fathers and mothers must make it their daily 
duty to see that their children have wholesome entertain- 
ment — something that gladdens young life without degrad- 
ing it; and that the fundamentals of our Christian faith 
constitute the controlling element in their hearts. Then 

9 



130 Gospel Truths 

there will be a moral force within that will make them 
the masters of themselves, to shun and scorn the cheap 
and vile, and to choose and find pleasure in that which 
is pure and true. 

2. The problem of the age is the problem of our 
young people. How shall we draw them into the Church ; 
how shall we keep them there? It is the thing that 
weighs the heaviest on the minister's heart. If his inter- 
est in them is a deep soul-interest, he cannot depart from 
the Scripture principle, "No man cometh unto Me except 
the Father draw him," as well as its counterpart, "No 
man cometh unto the Father but by Me." And from 
that principle no faithful pastor will depart. 

There are those, however, who believe in the religion 
that appeals to the natural heart. And so the pulpit busies 
itself with the display of curiosities. The whole effort, in 
such cases, is to please the sinner with passing trifles. There 
may be the scourging of evil practices; there may be the 
castigation of prevalent vices: and there should be. But 
all this is purely negative; and negatives never have a 
positive effect. You cannot raise fruit by lashing and 
slashing the tree. There must be water for its root-system 
and warmth for its leaf -system, by which the proper ele- 
ments of earth and air enter into its life. It is thus that 
the life-giving, life-developing energy reaches its vital part, 
and quickens and sustains it. And all the claptrap that 
the pulpit may contrive, though it be as entertaining as a 
comic opera or as thrilling as a prize fight, will have no life- 
generating influence upon the secret chambers of the heart. 
"Ye must be born again." And the new creature in Christ 
will always find delight in that which centers upon Christ. 
If I can succeed in putting the spirit of Christ into the 
hearts of our young people, in Sunday school, in catechetical 
class, in the sacred services of God's House, they will not 
be drawn aside by the curiosities that some other Church 
may indulge, whether it be in the pulpit or from the choir 



The Religion of Curiosity 131 

16ft. If the life and love of Christ is in their hearts, they 
will find their chief joy in worshipping God, with the set 
forms of the Church as the channel of expressing it. The 
Order of Service will be like Jacob's ladder, the angels 
of God ascending and descending upon it: their sacrifice 
of prayer, praise and thanksgiving going up to God upon 
it, and God's blessing coming down to them, through the 
same source, in rich measures of grace. It is this, and this 
alone, that will build up our young people along sane, 
loyal, conservative lines. 

But we cannot ignore the social features of church-life. 
Under the old covenant — the various feasts which the Lord 
appointed by the mouth of Moses — there was a distinctively 
social element. And so, social life in church life has the 
sanction of Scripture. In Old Testament usage, however, 
the daily sacrifice was a solemn service : the social element 
did not enter into it. And so it should be in the Chris- 
tian Church. Word and Sacrament, with proper forms 
of worship, are the only things that should enter into 
church service. But there should be equipment for the 
social life of the old and young alike. The more good 
doors we open for their pleasure and profit, the more bad 
doors we will close against their entrance. These are not 
novelties to draw them into the Church and keep them 
there: these are avenues of social pastime, under the 
Church's care, for those who are already members of the 
household of faith through the Gospel of Christ. Just 
as every home should provide wholesome entertainment for 
the children that are growing up in it ; so the Church may 
consistently provide proper pastime for the young people 
that are connected with it. If these things, however, are 
depended upon to attract young people to the Church and 
keep them interested in her activities, then they usurp 
the place of the means of grace and become the abomina- 
tion of desolation standing in the holy place. Everything 
has its sphere and must be kept within it. 



132 Gospel Truths 

3. The people who looked to Christ for a sign, and 
nothing else, did not tarry with Him when He refused 
to gratify their desire. The multitude who looked upon 
His miracles with open-mouthed astonishment, deserted 
Him when He came to the point of moral pressure. Jesus 
never performed a wonderful act to gather a crowd of 
people or for the sake of popular applause. When Herod 
wanted to see a miracle, Christ scorned the man. And the 
Church that makes a display to gain the public eye, ceases 
to be a spiritual factor in the community in which it is 
set for spiritual uplift. As a rule, men get out of the 
Church that which impels them to go there. Herod was 
anxious to see the Holy Babe; but he wanted to take His 
life. And so, he sent forth and slew the little ones of 
Bethlehem and the region round about. The wise men 
were anxious to see the New Born King: they went to 
Bethlehem and worshipped at His feet. If the oratory of 
the preacher is all you crave, you get oratory and nothing 
else. If the music of the choir is all you crave, you get 
music and nothing else. That is the general rule: the ex- 
ceptions are notable because they are rare. But if you 
come here to worship God, if you come here to be edified 
from the pulpit, if you come here to get spiritual uplift 
that the anthem is designed to give, you will have purer 
pleasurable emotions than the one who comes here for 
the show-side of the service and your soul will be strength- 
ened and satisfied with the spiritual feast. 

The people who go to church as they go to the play- 
house, get playhouse results. They don 't go to meet Christ, 
and they don't find Him there. They don't go to wor- 
ship God; for God is not in all their thoughts. They do 
not go to seek the divine blessing; and so they go away 
unblest. You know all about those two men who went 
up to the temple to pray — the Pharisee and the Publican. 
The Pharisee went there to praise himself, and he made 
a magnificent success of it. The Publican went there, 



The Religion of Curiosity 133 

conscious of his sin and confessing it; and he went home 
justified in God's sight. It might be wholesome for every- 
one of us to ask, down in our hearts, why we are here. 
And if, at bottom, the purpose is outside of the religious 
line, let us repent and seek God's pardoning grace, and 
let us resolve that nothing but a pure spiritual impulse 
shall bring us to this House. Let us not mock God in 
His own Temple. Let us not use the sacred vessels of 
divine service for an evening's entertainment. May the 
deep need of our hearts be the supreme motive; and may 
we so worship Him, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth, 
that rich treasures of grace shall flow into our souls, speak- 
ing pardon and peace. 

When the Pharisees sought a sign from heaven, Jesus 
sighed deeply in spirit and said, "Why doth this genera- 
tion seek after a sign ? Verily I say unto you, There shall 
no sign be given unto this generation." And He left 
them, and entering into a ship again departed to the other 
side. As a concluding thought, let me emphasize this fact : 
Jesus knew what to give and what to withhold. And He 
gave so much, so often, so freely! Sight to the blind, 
healing to the sick, hearing to the deaf: He cured all 
manner of disease among the people. He made so many 
hearts glad by His ministrations of love. But when men 
asked for a sign from heaven — something to gaze at, some- 
thing to wonder at, something that did not supply a need 
or fill a want — He refused to do it. 

And this is the lesson for you and me : — To come into 
His presence with a pure purpose of heart. If you want 
entertainment in this House, we refuse to give it. If you 
want to listen to curious, quaint things, you cannot find 
them here. If you want novelties and oddities, you must 
seek them from some other source. If you want witti- 
cisms and literary spice: we do not deal in that line. But 
if you want to hear the Word of Life that will open your 
spiritual eyes and strengthen your weary feet and cleanse 



134 Gospel Truths 

your leprous hearts and fill your ears with the music of 
God's love, we hope, by God's grace, to be able to give it, 
and to give it in heavenly abundance. May the services 
of this House ever prove to be a feast of fat things, to 
the renewal of your natures and the sanctification of your 
lives; that thus you may be strong to resist the evil and 
equally strong to cleave to that which is good. In this 
way, God shall be glorified and you shall be blest. 



XVII 

THE SERVICE THAT SAVES 

Luke 9:51-56. And it came to pass, when the time 
was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly 
set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers 
before his face: and they went, and entered into a 
village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him, and 
they did not receive him, because his face was as though 
he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James 
and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we 
command fire to come down from heaven, and consume 
them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked 
them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit 
ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy 
men's lives, but to save them. 

As we read the text, we realize that the Cross looms 
up in the distance: at first, in dim outline; at last, the 
Crucified One hangs bleeding there. It was an awful 
reality for Jesus to face. And how did He face it? He 
looked beyond : He saw the glorious outcome. The Apostle 
tells us that for the joy that was set before Him, He 
endured the Cross, despising its shame. And that is the 
thought in the text. The time had well-nigh come when 
Jesus was to go back to heaven whence He came. But 
He must needs go by way of Jerusalem, which, in real 
fact, was the way of the scourge and the Cross and the 
grave. It took firmness; it took steadfastness; it took 
fixedness of purpose, to leave His beloved Galilee for the 
last time, and to go, step by step, the shortest route, to the 
Holy City and face the cruel tortures. 

In His mortal life, Jesus drew strength from the same 
source as we draw it. In the desert, He met the Tempter 
with the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit 
— the same Word which we use for our defense. And 
here, as He moves on toward the suffering and shame which 

135 



136 Gospel Truths 

await His advent within the city gates, He does just as 
you and I must do when we are called upon to face the 
extremities of this life: He looked beyond to the glories 
of that heavenly kingdom where He should reign forever- 
more. And so, while He set His face steadfastly toward 
Jerusalem, He looked beyond to the Mount of Olives, and 
saw there His own glorious ascension into the skies. 

And we must do the same. The disciple of Christ, in 
the midst of world-worriments, should keep in mind the 
universal fact — and no one has ever yet escaped it, "We 
must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom 
of God." They are the birth throes into the everlasting 
life. There is no possible escape from world-ills and world- 
woes; but there is always the blessed assurance, "My 
grace is sufficient for thee." And that should satisfy 
every Christian heart. Let us now take the leading inci- 
dents of the text — the disciples' side of it, and view them 
with the Cross and the Crown kept distinctly before our 
eyes. And may the picture be so vivid, so true to life, 
that we see ourselves outlined there. 

1. There was a time when the messengers whom Jesus 
sent in advance would not have gone into Samaria: they 
had been taught never to set foot there. And there was 
good reason for it. The Jewish religion was the pure 
one: the religion of the Samaritans, who were a mixed 
race, was marred by heathen influences, and prejudices, 
and practices. And any commingling with these people, 
even along business and social lines, might have had dis- 
astrous religious results. A corrupted religion is more 
dangerous than open idolatry. It is deceptive: it is fair 
on the outside; but there is rottenness at the heart. Call 
a Christless cult a Church, and you have made it respect- 
able, and even palatable. For to some people, all Churches 
are alike. But add a heathen name to it; and men will 
keep far from its coasts. 

In the case of the Jews and Samaritans, it was not a 

135 



The Service That Saves 137 

prejudice that kept them apart: it was a principle. It 
was the case of the pure worship of a pure race or the 
mixed worship of a mixed race. The only way to keep 
the worship pure is to keep the life distinct. A false re- 
ligion is like a contagious disease: if you mingle with the 
people who have it, you are in danger of catching it. A 
pure religion does not have a like effect. A pure religion 
is somewhat like a person whose health is perfect: you 
never hear of a sick person catching health from such 
a one. The well person, however, may suggest a line of 
physical culture that will benefit and build up the one who 
is sick. My point is this: The lump never destroys the 
leaven, but the leaven changes the chemical nature of the 
lump. In things that are of a perishable nature, the 
sound object never makes sound the unsound one: it is 
always the reverse. And as the seeds of sin are in our 
nature, impure worship will have an evil influence where 
pure worship will not seem to have the slightest effect. 
And that is why we must earnestly contend for the faith 
once delivered to the saints: that is why we must fortify 
ourselves with it: that is why we must guard our lives 
against the influence of those who have no Christ. 

The case here, however, has another aspect. An ele- 
ment is introduced that changes the whole situation: it 
puts a different stamp upon it. These messengers who 
are sent into the Samaritan village are followers of Christ : 
Christ tells them to go there ; He will overtake them there. 
It is one thing to go where there are evil influences, be- 
cause our natural desires lead us to the place: it is 
quite a different thing to go where a sense of duty prompts 
us, because Christ has commanded it. We can go any- 
where at the call of Christ : we can go anywhere with Him 
as leader and guide. If there is some difficult task to be 
done, He will give us wisdom to do it. If there is some 
special danger to be met, He will guard our lives. If 
there are sore temptations with their alluring snares, He 



138 Gospel Truths 

will give us grace to resist. He will enable us to pass 
through the very fires. There is always an enabling might 
that goes with every order He issues. And it is adequate 
to each particular case. When the angel of the Lord said 
to the apostles, "Go, stand and speak in the Temple to 
the people, all the words of this life, ' ' they went; and 
though they suffered stripes, they rejoiced that they were 
counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake. "And daily 
in the Temple, and in every house, they ceased not to 
teach and to preach Jesus Christ.' ' When the Lord spake 
to Paul by a vision, "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold 
not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set 
on thee to hurt thee," he obeyed the divine voice, and he 
suffered no violence. And if the Lord sends you and me 
among Pharisees, we can go without inbibing the Pharisaic 
spirit. If He sends us among the Samaritans, we can go 
without infection from their mixed tenets. If He sends 
us among publicans and sinners, we can go and not be 
partakers of their sinful habits. The call of Christ im- 
plies the power of Christ to shield us from every hurtful 
snare. 

And so, we must straitly distinguish between inter- 
mingling with a mixed-religious people, or a no-religious 
people, because we are inclined to wink at their heresies 
and their idolatries, and mingling with them because the 
call of conscience with the commission of Christ to inspire 
it, sends us there to make them likeminded with Christ. 
These followers of Christ could safely go to the Samaritan 
village, because Jesus sent them there. And you and I 
can do the same. We must be sure, however, as to the 
call of Christ. We must be equally sure as to the place 
where we are to go in His name to make ready for His 
arrival. 

2. There are always two parties to every contract. 
There were not only the messengers of Christ : there were 
also the people of the Samaritan village. And the text 



The Service That Saves 139 

tells us that they did not receive Jesus because His face 
was as though He would go to Jerusalem. At another 
time, when He came from Jerusalem, they received Him: 
they listened to His message. But now, when He is going 
to Jerusalem, they will not harbor Him for a single night. 
And they were consistent, although they were not right. 

There is such a thing as consistency outside of the 
sphere of right. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church 
teaches that marriage is a sacrament. As Baptism is the 
initial sacrament, they will not marry anyone who has not 
first received that sacred rite. They are consistent. But 
we do not believe they are right, because we deny that 
marriage is a sacrament. These Samaritans sincerely be- 
lieved that their religion was right : they just as sincerely 
believed that the Jewish religion was not right. And as 
Jesus worshipped at Jerusalem and not at Mt. Gerizim, 
which was their religious center, His religion and theirs 
were antagonistic. And they were but consistent when 
they refused to harbor Him in their midst. But they were 
not right, because their religion was not right. There is 
a time when we must be very severe, though people call 
us narrow because of it. It was the beloved disciple who 
said, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this 
doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him 
God speed ; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker 
of his evil deeds.' ' The doctrine of which he speaks is 
the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ. If a principle 
is at stake, we dare not wave it aside for the sake of 
religious courtesies. 

A wicked man may be consistent with his own code, 
but his code is not right. A Church may be consistent 
with its doctrine and discipline; but unless its doctrine 
and discipline are right, it may be wrong at every es- 
sential point. It is not enough for you and me to say, 
This is what my Church teaches ; therefore it is right. That 
is sectarianism of the narrowest sort. We must be able 



140 Gospel Truths 

to say, This is Scriptural ; therefore it is right. And only 
where our doctrine, or practice, fills to the full the meas- 
ure of Scripture, are we justified in claiming any recog- 
nition for it. First Scripture, then Church doctrine, is 
the order; and we dare not reverse it. 

It is the attitude of the disciple, however, upon which 
our chief interest should center. We should have expected 
Peter to utter his protest ; but it was James and John who 
suggested the summary judgment, "Lord, wilt Thou that 
we command fire to come down from heaven and con- 
sume them?" This is the spirit that has controlled the 
world in all its ages; and the Church has never been 
quite free from it. Fire to consume! The invoking of 
violence, the resort to might: what havoc it has wrought! 
It is the spirit of all warfare. The armament of nations 
for conquest has its origin here. The rising up in mili- 
tary might to resent an insult, has its origin here. And all 
world-quarrels and world-carnage can be traced to the 
same source. The war spirit is in the natural heart; and 
the divine grace of two thousand years has not been able 
to master it. 

And even the Church has not been slow to adopt the 
world measure of conquest by violence. There was a time 
when the Church silenced heretics at the stake: a time 
when the Church drew the sword to gain temporal power 
and maintain it. The spirit of James and John is still 
mighty in the hearts of the followers of Christ. The 
Church no longer engages in bloody battles, with glitter- 
ing sword to punctuate its principles. It is the fire of 
the tongue that flames up on every side. If you stand 
by the Bible, the fire of sarcasm is flashed in your face. 
If you stand by your Church, it is charged that you are 
controlled by the spirit of sect. If you do not plunge 
into every general movement, religious or otherwise, you 
are branded as lacking in public interest. In short, if 
you have a mind of your own and convictions of your 



The Service That Saves 141 

own and methods of your own, there is always a James or 
a John — some son of Thunder — who will call down fire, 
and quote the prophet to justify the act. The spirit is 
an evil one. In the case of the text, it received a sharp 
rebuke. 

Hear the words of Christ; and let us take them to 
heart: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.'' 
I have no doubt these disciples felt outraged at the Samari- 
tans ' insult: and they thought that the offenders should 
be visited with summary judgment. Their zeal was all 
right: their Master's honor was at stake, and they would 
defend it. But their method was contrary to the spirit 
of Christ. The sword belongs to the State: the Church 
has no call to wield it. The Christian weapon of war- 
fare is the Word of Truth, which is a sword to cleave, 
and a hammer to break, and a fire to burn. And the 
only true conquest, the only lasting one, is where the truth 
has laid hold of the heart, changed the desires, and sancti- 
fied the life. 

And this is the underlying thought when Jesus says, 
4 'The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but 
to save." And His work is witness to that fact. There 
was but a single miracle when He destroyed life ; and that 
was the life of a fruitless tree. It was all blessing : it was 
all grace. And shall we not guide our lives along the 
same lines? We must, indeed, stand by truth and right. 
We dare not countenance evil of any sort, much less en- 
courage it. We must set our faces like flint against de- 
structive forces. But we are dealing with mortals like 
ourselves. What power turned you and me from the 
world-life to the Church-life? What impels us to live 
consistently in it? Fire and sword? blows and threats? 
laws and ordinances? Or the grace of the Gospel win- 
ning us to Christ by the offices of Love? Let there be 
less of the destroying spirit and more of the saving spirit, 
and the work of saving will so absorb our energies and 



142 Gospel Truths 

be attended by such blessed results, that the spirit to 
destroy will lose its hold upon our hearts and the spirit 
to save will engage our noblest thoughts and acts. And 
then, in the very work of saving, we shall destroy : but if 
we go forth to destroy we shall not even save. 

We started at the Cross: let us return to it. And 
in doing so, may we strive to understand the deep signifi- 
cance of those closing words of the text, "The Son of 
man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save." Let 
us keep our faces steadfastly set in the direction that saves, 
though we suffer the Cross in doing it. To save others 
by self-sacrificing is the message which Jesus here gives. 



XVIII 

ASHAMED OF JESUS 

Luke 9:23-26. And he said to them all, if any man 
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up 
his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save 
Ms life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life 
for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a 
man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose 
himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be 
ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son 
of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own 
glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. 

It was not easy for a man to become a follower of 
Christ. He not only left his ship and nets ; but his friends 
left him: they became his open enemies. It was the 
slurring boast, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees 
believed on Him?" It is so like the sneer of our times, 
"Do any of the great scientists, the great scholars, the 
great sociologists, believe in Christ?" And then the wise 
questioner casts a withering glance upon those of us who 
follow the Master in evil as well as in good report. The 
young man who enters a university full of zeal for the 
religion which the Bible teaches, comes out with the con- 
ceit, "I'm not as orthodox as I used to be." And what 
does that mean? It means that he is ashamed of the 
Gospel of Christ: he thinks he has outgrown it. Along 
with his intellectual enlargement has gone a woeful 
spiritual shrinkage: his head has mastered his heart — 
enslaved it. The link of love is gone! Nothing but a 
rebuke from the skies will bring him to his senses. And 
what is true of student-life is largely true of all life. The 
culture of the age is anti-Christ. 

The test of discipleship is the general theme of the 
text. There are several stages; but the sum-total is the 

143 



144 Gospel Truths 

same. Jesus, had just made plain to His disciples that 
He would be rejected by the elders and chief priests and 
scribes: it would be their supreme test. We know how 
well they stood it: they forsook Him and fled; at best, 
they followed Him at a safe distance. As all things are 
naked and open to His eyes, He knew what would take 
place. And He warns them, and thus would put them 
on their guard. They would need reinforcement in 
mind and heart for the critical hour: and He would fur- 
nish it. 

1. He starts out with a conditional statement: "If 
any man will come after me, let him deny himself and 
take up his cross daily, and follow me." We talk a 
great deal about self-denial; we imagine we practice it; 
we do practice it in a degree. But the self-denial of which 
Jesus here speaks is quite different from what we would 
define it. If we deprive ourselves of one luxury that we 
may indulge a greater one, that does not mean that we 
have denied ourselves. To take money from one pile and 
put it on another, does not increase our riches. To lop 
off one luxury in order to pamper another, does not count 
as a sacrifice. And yet, that is the kind of a sacrifice the 
most of us practice. The simple fact is, the word " self- 
denial/ ' like the word "charity," has lost its original force. 
Time has stripped it of its true significance. 

Let us now take a closer look at this verse. Let us 
try to see it as Jesus saw it and give it the thought He 
gave it. We have, first of all, the conditional clause, "If 
any man will come after me." The word "will" does 
not quite express it. It were better to read it, "If any 
man wishes to come after me." And if Jesus said, "If 
any man has a real desire to become my disciple, there 
are certain things that must enter into his life." Deep 
down in the bottom of his heart, there must be an earnest, 
glowing purpose. And that purpose is, To become a fol- 
lower of Christ whatever the cost. There was a time when 



Ashamed of Jesus 145 

such a purpose filled our hearts — it burned there like coals 
from the altar of sacrifice. Did we forget it in our daily 
lives? Did we strive to fulfill it? Are we still striving 
to do it ? Let us put ourselves to the test this very minute. 
There are three tests here. 

(a) The first is stated in these words, "Let him deny 
himself." As already suggested, the word "deny" has 
lost its original force. When Jesus says, "Let him deny 
himself," He really means, "Let him renounce himself." 
In our baptism, we renounce the devil, and all his works 
and ways: in the building up of our Christian lives, we 
must renounce ourselves. Self, the original sinful self, 
is what stands between us and Christ. Self wants to hang 
on to every earthly treasure. Get all you can and hold fast 
to all you get, is the slogan of self. I am not talking about 
money here ; though the love of money enters into the case. 
I am talking of any and every thing that the heart de- 
sires — the things it craves and to which it clings with all 
its might. It is this sin of self that keeps multitudes from 
following Christ. 

(b) If the first test searches the heart, the second 
one tries the reins: "Let him take up his cross daily." 
This marks a progressive stage. Jesus had said, "Take 
my yoke upon you." They had been under the yoke of 
the Law: He will now bring them under the yoke of His 
Love. In each case, it told of their attitude toward others 
— what they should endure for their sakes. But here, it 
comes back to themselves — what they are willing to do for 
Christ's sake. "Take up the cross": they did not yet 
understand how much that meant. When He went forth 
from the city-gates, the cross cutting into His bruised 
flesh and making Him faint, then they caught something 
of its significance. When they saw Him bleed and die, 
then they knew what it meant. There are daily crosses 
to your life and mine. And we must take up our cross 

and carry it, though at last our bodies are broken upon 

10 



146 Gospel Truths 

it and our spirits are crushed by it. There must be the 
daily endurance of whatever, in God's providence, comes 
into our lives. For we know that after the cross comes 
the crown. And we know, too, that it is worth the price. 
The cross is bound to come: no one can escape it: no 
one with a faith like those had who suffered for Christ's 
sake will try to escape it. Let us, then, take up our cross 
and bear it with a trust that no trial can shake. 

(c) And now comes the third test: "Let him fol- 
low Me. ' ' It means more than the physical act : it means 
the whole mental and spiritual attitude. ' ' In His Steps ' ' : 
what a beautiful motto for the Christian life! To go to 
church or stay at home: what would He have done? To 
answer word for word and blow for blow, or bear re- 
proach with meek endurance: what would He have done? 
Along the whole line of life, the attitude of Jesus should 
be our attitude. And how shall we know this attitude? 
By a faithful study of the Bible — Old Testament and New 
Testament alike. The Word must be our guide. 

2. This is a heavy demand. Like the disciples, we 
are ready to interpose a counter-thought, * ' This is an hard 
saying; who can hear it!" and you know what hap- 
pened then: "From that time, many of His disciples 
went back and walked with Him no more." Jesus well 
knew the weight His demand seemed to impose. He 
would not lighten it; He would not take a straw's bur- 
den from it ; He would hold it up with all the discourage- 
ment and dismay it might quicken in their minds and im- 
pose upon their lives. He never deceived His disciples: 
He never dealt in half measures. He told them plainly, 
"Ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake." But 
along with it, He gave them that which made them strong 
to endure. So here : He assigns three specific reasons why 
they should deny themselves, and take up their cross, and 
follow Him. 

(a) The first reason is this: "For whosoever will 



Ashamed of Jesus 147 

save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life, 
for My sake, shall save it." Is this actually true? It 
must be; for Christ declares it. To save and to lose, to 
lose and to save : how strangely these words change places ! 
And yet these are everyday facts. If a man tells a lie 
to save a few cents, what is the result? He saves, but 
he loses. He loses tenderness of conscience; he loses self- 
respect; he loses rest and peace; and he runs the risk of 
losing eternal life. The over-indulgence of appetite ends 
in self -disgust ; the wrong indulgence of that which, under 
proper conditions, would be right, ends in self-loathing 
and self -contempt. As soon as a thing is won by wrong 
processes, so soon the loss becomes an unchangeable fact. 
And if a principle of life is involved, the life itself is 
lost. It is a losing game any way you take it. 

But reverse the case: whosoever will lose his life for 
Jesus' sake, the same shall save it. Is this true to fact? 
Every word of it. To save his throne, Pilate crucified 
the Christ. But he lost his throne; aye, he lost his life. 
For if we may trust Eusebius, despair seized him and 
he committed suicide. To get what he could out of the 
impending wreckage, Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty 
pieces of silver. He gained a mite; but he sent his soul, 
unsummoned, before its eternal Judge. But what of the 
Apostles? They gave their lives for Christ's sake: they 
followed Him by the way of the cross, by the way of 
the sword, by the way of the stake: they lost their lives. 
If that were the end, it were sad in the extreme. For if 
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all 
men most miserable. But that was not their end: they 
won the crown of life. And let me tell you: whatever 
we suffer for Christ's sake, whatever we lose for Christ's 
sake, though it be our very lives, we shall receive an hun- 
dred-fold for it in the life which is to come. 

(b) The second reason is this: "For what is a man 
advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, 



148 Gospel Truths 

or be cast away?" We are getting down to real values: 
we are dealing with profit and loss with eternity as their 
measure. There are some victories that are worse than 
defeats. There are fortunes that are actual misfortunes. 
There are gains that are absolute losses. If a man piles 
up millions of money and goes to his grave without Christ, 
would you say, "I will give you my Christ, if you will 
give me your riches!" If a man becomes master of thou- 
sands of acres, but has no inheritance with the saints in 
light, would you say, "I will give you my mansion in 
the skies, if you will give me your earthly park and 
palace ! ' ' Gain the world — or a small part of it — for three 
score years and ten, or years four-score, and lose your 
mind, it may be, before you reach the grave, and your soul 
when you get there : eternally lost ! Do you wish it ? Do 
you not shrink from it? Is it possible that anyone can 
be so absorbed with time-riches as to have no thought of 
heavenly treasures? Is it possible that anyone can de- 
liberately give his united energies of body, mind, and 
spirit, to the perishable things that this earth produces 
and be willing to lose eternal life for their sake? Would 
anyone dare to say, Give me earth-riches while this life 
lasts, though hell be my portion forevermore? No one is 
saying it ; but multitudes are doing it : they say it in their 
lives. And it is the doing upon which the final judgment 
will rest. 

(c) There is a third reason assigned here, and it is 
a personal one — personal with Christ: ''For whosoever 
shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall 
the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His 
own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." 
Aye, but that touches the core. If Jesus had come as a 
mighty prince on a war-horse, with banners flying to the 
breeze, the world would have shouted His praise: they 
would have rallied to His support and maintained His 
cause. But when He came in lowly guise, dust-stained 



Ashamed of Jesus 149 

and foot-sore and wearily plodding from place to place. 
He had no room in the world-eye or the world-thought: 
men hid, as it were, their faces from Him. If Jesus had 
come with a new philosophy of life — something for the 
Stoic, something for the Epicurean, something for the 
sage : the world of lettered men would have flocked to His 
side. If He had come with a hocus-pocus performance, 
with weird words suited to weird acts and mysterious mut- 
terings like the Sibylline Oracles, the whole orient would 
have been at His feet. But the man, Jesus, was so meek 
and lowly in heart, they held Him in contempt. The doc- 
trine He taught was so humbling a theme, they despised 
it: they were ashamed to have their names coupled with 
His name. His simple life had too little lustre. They were 
not like the great Apostle. He said, "I am not ashamed 
of the Gospel of Christ": "God forbid that I should glory 
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And the 
world today assumes the same old world attitude. The 
meekness of spirit, the humbleness of nature, the forbear- 
ance in love: these marks of Christ, like the wounds in 
His hands and side, do not appeal to the proud of heart. 
The Beatitudes, "Blessed are the meek," "Blessed are the 
poor in spirit" — they are ruled out of court. The spirit 
of pride so dominates the people that the gentleness of 
Jesus has but little place in their lives. 

Ashamed of Jesus! Is it possible that anyone who has 
studied His life of love, should be ashamed to confess 
His holy name ? It is not only possible : the most of peo- 
ple, in this enlightened age, have not confessed it. And 
why? Because they are ashamed of it. The world can 
march men up and down our streets: the Church cannot 
do it. The world can dress them up in all kinds of fan- 
tastic costumes, with all kinds of mystic emblems to give 
the brilliancy of world-life: the Church can scarcely get 
them to a special service, unless it is seasoned with world- 
spice. And why is it ? Because men are ashamed to enroll 



150 Gospel Truths 

themselves under the banner of Christ: they are ashamed 
to let the world see their church attitude. 

And now note what Jesus says, and be warned by it. 
He is coming again: In glory He will come: The glory 
of the Father will mark His descent: The multitude of 
angels will constitute His retinue ! Has. earth ever beheld 
such a sight? The glory of it! The glory of heaven 
shed over it and round about it! And the disciples, who 
were not ashamed of Jesus when He lived in lowly life, 
shall share in the glory of that second advent: He will 
not be ashamed of them, however lowly their lot. But 
what of those who were ashamed of Him, His Church, His 
doctrine — the rich, the proud, the despising, the hostile? 
He shall be ashamed of them, and appoint them their por- 
tion among the hypocrites. Let us confess Jesus here; 
and He will confess us there. Let us not be ashamed of 
Him in time; and He will not be ashamed of us, when 
He comes to usher in the eternal age. 



XIX 

THE THREE MEN WHO DID NOT 
FOLLOW CHRIST 

Luke 9:57-62. And it came to pass, that as they 
went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, 
I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus 
said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air 
have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay 
his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But 
he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: 
but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And an- 
other also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me 
first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my 
house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having 
put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for 
the kingdom of God. 

If we compare the teachings of Christ with those of 
the founders of other religions and philosophies, we shall 
find a great difference as to method and purpose. The 
letters that have come down to us from ancient times, 
are, for the most part, philosophic treatises. And it takes 
a philosopher to find the underlying thought and follow 
it to its logical sequence. And as for practical use, the 
great mass of people, not being able to fathom it, receive 
no benefit. The sayings of Jesus are the very reverse. 
There is philosophy there; but it is the philosophy of 
life. It takes up the common happenings among the com- 
mon people, and by these illustrates and demonstrates 
the moral and religious principles that are universal in 
their application, irrespective of age or estate. 

The text gives us three examples. These make plain 
the method of Christ: they make plain certain traits that 
are still in evidence, and will be as long as the human 
race endures. They picture religious discrepancies, re- 

151 



152 Gospel Truths 

ligious lapses. And if we find ourselves anywhere in the 
picture, and do not like the looks of it, let us blame our- 
selves for being there. There are three kinds of men in- 
troduced in the text — three kinds of temperaments. And 
Jesus meets each man according to his native qualities. He 
gives the answer that fits each particular case. It is this 
that gives the practical turn to the incidents of the text. 

1. "And it came to pass that as they went in the 
way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow 
Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, 
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but 
the Son of man hath not where to lay His head. ' ' Is this 
the same Jesus who said, ' ' Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" Is it 
the same Jesus who made the sad complaint, "Ye will not 
come unto Me that ye might have life ! ' ' It is, indeed the 
same Jesus, but under changed circumstances. We must, 
therefore, look for the changed attitude in the man whom 
He addresses: for He does not change. 

The man was one of those impulsive, impetuous crea- 
tures, who throw themselves red-hot into a cause and then 
grow cold, as suddenly, toward it. They follow a com- 
mon law of nature. Lead is easily melted: it returns, as 
readily, to a cold state. It takes a long time to melt a 
piece of iron : it takes a proportionately long time to cool 
it. The case of the two sons illustrates the point. The 
impulsive one said, "I go, sir." He meant it; but he 
didn 't go. The other, slow to respond, said that he wouldn 't 
go; but when he thought it over, he changed his mind 
and went. The same thing is taught by parable. The 
seed in shallow soil springs up at once : the first drought 
kills it. The seed that falls into deep earth is the last 
to reach the surface; but it lives, and it gives the har- 
vest. The world of nature is full of examples illustrative 
of this point. 

Here is a man who makes a promise that has no limit. 



Three Men Who Did Not Follow Christ 153 

He says, "Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou 
goest." He did not stop to study the insuperable diffi- 
culties he might be compelled to face. The impulsive Peter 
made a like promise: how sadly he fell short of keeping 
it ! And this man, no doubt, would have done even worse. 
He evidently did not have the qualities to stand the test ; 
and Jesus, we may well suppose, touched him at his weakest 
point, when He said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the 
air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay 
His head." Foxes have holes: they can run into their 
hidden retreat and be safe; they have a sheltering place 
to rest. Birds have nests. ' l Nests ' ' is not the word here : 
"perehing-places'' is the real thought. A branch, a twig, 
will serve the purpose. But He who made all things, and 
without whom was not anything made that was made, had 
no home : He had no resting place here. A homeless life ! 
the sacrifice: this man never thought of it. 

The sacrifice of following Christ! Did Peter count 
it a sacrifice ? Yet he suffered stripes, imprisonments, and 
death, for Christ's sake. And the minister who bewails 
the sacrifice he makes for the Church's sake is not worthy 
of the holy office. He sees only the flesh side, the mere 
mortal side, the money side. The privilege to stand in 
Christ's place and preach the unsearchable riches of 
Christ; the privilege of going from house to house, in 
Christ's name, with a word of comfort here, a word 
of courage there — a Christ-like visit: the joy of it over- 
balances, a hundred-fold, the little sacrifices we ministers 
make, the want we sometimes suffer, the hardships we 
endure. 

And how shall the Church member view it? What 
were you compelled to give up in order to be a true fol- 
lower of Christ? The Lord does not ask you to give up 
a single pure pleasure : He does not demand that you break 
off a single decent habit: He does not expect you to quit 
your daily task, if you are living honestly by it. Where, 



154 Gospel Truths 

then, is the sacrifice? Is it a sacrifice to keep from lying 
and swearing and cheating and stealing? Is it a sacri- 
fice to keep from gluttony and drunkenness ? Is it a sacri- 
fice to abstain from a wicked, devilish, beastly manner of 
life? To call the cutting off of such things a sacrifice 
is all but unthinkable. Wherein, then, lies the sacrifice? 
Is it the money you give for Church support ? The world 
gets more: and you know it. Is it a sacrifice to go to 
Church once or twice a week — three times at most? In 
that event, if you ever get to heaven, you will suffer an 
eternal sacrifice; for there they worship God day and 
night: and they devote all eternity to it. 

What, then, is the true Christian attitude ? Foxes have 
holes; birds have perching places: the Son of man hath 
not where to lay His head. But what matters it ? To live 
in Him here, to suffer with Him here, and then to reign 
with Him forever there! Get the eternal measurement, 
and what is the outcome? "The afflictions of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that 
shall be revealed in us." The man who said this suffered 
a thousand-fold more than you were ever called upon to 
endure. The miserable earth-stuff and little self-sacrifice 
of this time-life : how utterly small in comparison with the 
treasures that await us in heavenly places ! 

2. "And He said unto another, Follow Me. But he 
said, Suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus 
said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead ; but go thou 
and preach the kingdom of God." The case here is quite 
different from the preceding one. This man owes a filial 
duty: he ought to perform it. So he argues. But Jesus 
calls him straightway to His service. At least, that is 
the way it looks on the outside. The inside, we are con- 
fident, is quite different. "Honor thy father and thy 
mother, ' ' was the law which Jesus taught ; and His teach- 
ing and practice were always upon the same plane — they 
never crossed lines. 



Three Men Who Did Not Follow Christ 155 

Let us analyze this case. The first man was impulsive : 
he would rush in without forethought. The second man 
was a slow, calculating, deliberate sort of creature: he 
would balance duties. He could not see that a higher 
duty takes precedence over a lower one. He had not 
learned the significance of Christ's utterance, "He that 
loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of 
Me." And what is that but the practical wording and 
working out of the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have 
no other gods before Me." It is but the translation of 
law into life — the clothing of a principle with the gar- 
ment of flesh. 

And there is nothing cruel in the answer of Christ, 
"Let the dead bury their dead." There are two kinds of 
dead — the naturally dead and the spiritually dead. The 
Jews considered those dead who were outside of the cove- 
nant or who had wandered away from it. The father, 
you remember, said of his prodigal son, "He was dead, 
but is alive." And so Jesus tells this man, in fact: Let 
those that are spiritually dead bury those who die the 
natural death. And then he summons him to nobler ser- 
vice — the preaching of the kingdom of God. There is no 
doubt that this was all plain to the mind of this man 
of temporizing spirit. 

The lower and the higher duties: who does not meet 
them face to face? And who, at times, does not find it 
difficult to decide? And that difficulty — let us confess it: 
that difficulty does not arise from the fact that we cannot 
tell which has the higher claim upon us, but from the fact 
that we have a divided heart. We like to do the natural 
act, though conscience tells us that the spiritual act should 
be done. We are prone to put natural duties first — they 
seem so important and so imperative; and we allow them 
to push spiritual duties altogether aside. The world duty, 
the church duty: which has the supreme place in your 
heart? The world duty says, Work six days from morn- 



156 Gospel Truths 

ing to night: and the most of you obey it. The church 
duty says, Go to church on Sunday — once, twice: and 
some of you obey it. And yet the world duty lasts but 
a lifetime, while the church duty has an eternal outcome. 
And the sin of disobedience here is even greater than that 
of this man in the text. He placed the lower above the 
higher one. But we become so absorbed with the lower 
duty that we forget all about the higher one. We not 
merely balance duties; but we balance duties with pleas- 
ures, and are prone to decide by likes and dislikes. 

3. "And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; 
but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home 
at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man having 
put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for 
the kingdom of God." Of course, these cases are not 
exactly alike. It is not a case of balancing duties here: 
it is a case of dodging an issue — at least, of taking chances 
with probable defeat in sight. It is the case of a man 
who dilly dallies, and then drifts back into his old man- 
ner of life. Foreign Missionaries have this experience. 
The new converts are urged by their relatives to visit 
their old homes once more. If their request is granted, 
they never return : the current of heathenism is too strong 
for their weak resistance. 

The man who plows the furrow must look straight ahead 
or he will make crooked work of it. When Lot's wife 
looked back, she became a pillar of salt. When Israel 
looked back, with longing hearts, to the flesh-pots of Egypt, 
they were well nigh blotted out in the desert. "I press 
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus": it was the goal the great apostle kept 
in sight. If a man looks back, it is in love for what he 
has left behind — a love greater than that which he has 
for what lies before. He has a divided heart, the lusts 
of the flesh having a larger place in his love than the 
graces of the spirit. 



Three Men Who Did Not Follow Christ 157 

It is this looking back, and the consequent goingback 
that is killing our churches. And we must expect it. When 
Jesus cured those ten lepers, only one turned back to 
give God the praise: the rest followed the bent of their 
individual desires. What sad experiences our churches 
constantly have! The young people surround the altar 
at their confirmation service, having been taught the way 
of life: they make solemn promises there; but many of 
them go back and walk with God's people no more. They 
first desert the Communion Table; they next desert the 
Church service. New interests soon claim their thought; 
new affections soon fill their hearts. And then they, are 
gone: the Church's hold upon them is lost. The young 
people are not the only ones who forget their vows of 
allegiance. There are older ones who by degrees find 
greater joy in a gathering of some Christless cult than 
they do in their own church service. They are looking 
back, away from Christ; they are going back, away from 
Christ: sooner or later they will be altogether gone. It 
is the looking-back people who worry the pastor's life and 
break the pastor's heart. 

Has any one here a place in this text? Does any one 
of these three men represent your attitude, your state of 
heart? The impulsive one, who promises so much and 
does so little; the sluggish one, whose spiritual sense is 
so blunt that he follows the lower duty in preference to 
the higher one and justifies his act by his fidelity to it; 
the one with a divided heart, who tries to walk forward 
and look backward at the same time: are you figured in 
any of these? The first is like the chaff which the wind 
driveth away : he is soon gone and the place thereof shall 
know him no more. The second is like a man who stops 
a little leakage but lets a greater one drain his treasure. 
The third represents that large class of people who, like 
the Israelites, worship God but serve idols — the images 
set up in their divided hearts. 



158 Gospel Truths 

And what does all this demonstrate? It shows us how 
hard it is to be a faithful follower of Christ. It admon- 
ishes us to watch well the impulses of our natures and to 
see if there are any tendencies which may lead us away 
from Christ. It should inspire us to greater fidelity to 
all our religious duties and privileges — our enthusiasm 
never running away with our judgment, our clouded sense 
of duty never chaining us down to the lower spheres of 
world-life, and our hearts never set on serving two masters 
at the same time. When we say to Christ, "I will follow 
Thee," we must do it conscious of the cost. When Christ 
says to us, "Follow Me," we must do it with singleness 
of heart. 



XX 
CHURCH-LIFE AND WORLD-LIFE 

Luke 12:13-21. And one of the company said unto 
him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the 
inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who 
made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said 
unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness : for 
a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable 
unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man 
brought forth plentifully: and he thought within him- 
self, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room 
where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I 
do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and 
there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I 
will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid 
up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be 
merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night 
thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall 
those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he 
that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich 
toward God. 

It is truly remarkable how Jesus laid hold of every 
little event, found a root principle in it, and drew out of 
it some great rule of conduct — something that would lift 
life away above the low plane to which we poor earth- 
creatures are wont to drag it. It is thus that His divine 
nature shone out in word and act. For there is a divinity 
in speech. ' ' Thy speech bewrayeth thee, ' ' is a charge that 
holds good, not merely in dialect, but in moral tone. A 
man's character lies at the root of his tongue: sooner or 
later, he will reveal it. 

It was Jesus who said, "By thy words thou shalt be 
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. " 
When friends meet, they talk about that which holds the 
largest place in their hearts. Business themes, social 
themes, pleasure themes ; bad thoughts and good thoughts, 

159 



160 Gospel Truths 

as they themselves are good or bad in spirit; plots, in- 
trigues, kindly interest, tender love: the heart reveals 
them in the whisperings of the voice. The things you 
talked about before you came to this service; the things 
you will talk about on your way home: these are the 
treasures, or the trifles, that fill your heart, and which 
you count out, one by one, with your tongue. The tongue, 
we are told, is an unruly member : the will cannot manage 
it. It acts by impulse. And that is why it so often reveals 
the secrets of the heart, though the will decree otherwise. 

The text opens with a scene in the life of Christ where 
something is thrust upon Him from the outside, and to 
which He must give answer without a moment's fore- 
thought. It would seem that a company of men were 
gathered about the Master to hear His words of truth 
and grace. There were lofty spiritual sentiments, void of 
all earthly cares and worriments and entanglements. Those 
who listened to them must have been keyed up to a splen- 
did pitch of noble impulse, with not a single earth-thought 
to mar it. Such, at least, would be our judgment; but it 
was far otherwise. Jesus had scarcely finished speaking, 
when one of the company said, "Master, speak to my 
brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." It was 
a cold, covetous thought, and Jesus rebuked it. He did 
more: He spoke a parable that made very plain the empti- 
ness of all earthly enterprise, when earthly love measures 
it. And now, as we have this entire scene clearly before 
our eyes, let us take up the points they suggest and study 
their inner sense. 

1. The Church and State Life, is the first thing the 
text suggests to me. And by State life, here, I do not 
mean the politics or policies of the State; but those per- 
sonal concerns which the State must settle. "We are told 
that one of the company said to Jesus, "Master, speak to 
my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. ' ' And 
this is the answer that Jesus gave, "Who made me a judge 



Church-Life and World-Life 161 

or a divider over yon?" Jesus declares a great principle 
here. And we who are His ministers shall do well to 
ponder it. There are things which belong distinctively 
to the Church, and the State has no business to meddle 
with them. Whatever belongs to the Church's inner life 
must be respected by the State. If the Church runs a 
play-house: the State should make it take out a license, 
like any other place of amusement. If the Church should 
resort to lotteries and other illegal devices, the State should 
treat it like any other gambling-house. In short, the 
Church cannot claim the right to violate any common law 
of the land: if she does wrong, she must expect the State 
to call her to account for it. 

The State, however, has no right to pass a law which 
interferes with the Church's ancient ceremonies. Since 
the days of the Apostles, the Church has used fermented 
wine in the administration of the Lord's Supper: the 
State, in its zeal to wipe out the Liquor Traffic, goes far 
beyond its rights when it passes a law which forbids the 
use of fermented wine at the Communion Service. Since 
the days of the Apostles, the Church has used but one 
cup in the administration of the Holy Supper: the State 
steps outside of its province when it insists that, for sani- 
tary reasons, the common cup dare not be used in our 
Churches. These both go back to Christ: and what He 
instituted, the State has no right to change. 

Let us look a moment at the other side of this ques- 
tion. The Church dare not interfere with that which is 
the State's peculiar province. We have had, of late, a case 
in point — and a sad one. The Church preaches peace, 
and nothing else. But the Church has no right to preach 
against the war into which our nation has been drawn in 
spite of every effort to keep out of it. The Church should 
not clamor for the blood of our national enemies; but 
she can tell her people to be loyal to the State, to respond 
to her call, and to give their best service to its interests 
11 



162 Gospel Truths 

in the midst of its terrible strife. The Church steps far 
aside from her province when she makes her temples re- 
cruiting stations for the enlistment of her sons into national 
service; but when she organizes her members into units 
for ministrations of mercy, for the safe-guarding of our 
young men in camp-life, for the establishment of such 
agencies as have in view their moral and spiritual wel- 
fare, she is right in her sphere; for these are activities 
to which all our Churches should lend themselves. 

There are many local issues, which are a matter of 
city government : the Church, as such, has no calling there. 
The text gives us a striking example. Here is a man who 
has trouble with his brother over their inheritance. And 
he comes to Jesus with it. And this is about the way 
Jesus met the case: "I am no judge; why do you come 
to Me? This is a case for the courts to settle/ ' And 
just here is where the Church must draw the line: Is 
this a question for the Church to solve? or does it belong 
to our local courts? Is it a civil question with a moral 
aspect, or a religious question with a spiritual aspect ? If 
it is the former, we must meet it as citizens through our 
city government: if it is the latter, we must meet it as 
Church members in the maintenance of a true Church 
life. 

2. The Church and Heart-life, is the second point 
suggested by the text. And here we reach the real province 
of the Church. When this man came to Jesus with a ques- 
tion that belonged to the judge of the common courts, 
Jesus refused to pass judgment upon the case: He did 
not give the least hint as to what should be done. But 
there was a moral issue involved here ; and see how quickly 
He lays hold of it and declares a great principle that 
underlies all true moral life. The case was not merely 
one of inheritance — how to divide it aright. A greedy, 
grasping spirit was manifest; and Jesus was not slow to 
expose it. He might have turned on the man with sharp 



Church-Life and World-Life 163 

rebuke ; but He did not do it. He turned to the multitude 
and said, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness ; for 
a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
which he possesseth. ' ' Let us remember that this state- 
ment was called out by the appeal of the man to Jesus 
in reference to his property rights and that Jesus went 
back to the spirit underlying it. 

If the spirit of love had filled these brothers ' hearts, 
there would have been no dispute about the inheritance. 
There was the spirit of greed here. Both, it may be, were 
at fault ; both, it may be, coveted the larger part, or even 
the whole of it. And this furnished Jesus the opportunity 
to press home a very important principle. 

There is, first of all, a word of warning ; and then, there 
is a reason for it. "Take heed": "Beware of covetous- 
ness.' ' Covetousness is one of the primary sins; and God 
gave a special law — two, in fact — to cover it. If the spirit 
of covetousness did not fill men's hearts, our courts of 
justice would have but few cases to settle. It is human 
greed that lies back of all property disputes. The little 
misunderstandings between neighbors could easily be ad- 
justed, if there was the generous impulse on both sides. 
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house." But men 
not only covet their neighbor 's inheritance and home : they 
will resort to all kinds of trickeries in order to secure 
them. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife"; but 
men will not listen to God's voice: they follow the lead- 
ings of their own lustful hearts, and the courts grind out 
divorces in sickening measure. As over against the 
covetous spirit, we should cultivate the generous spirit — the 
spirit of brotherly love. 

And then follows the reason. For Jesus never sug- 
gested a rule of conduct without assigning an adequate 
reason for it : He never laid down arbitrary rules. And 
this is the reason He assigns in this case. "For a man's 
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which 



164 Gospel Truths 

he possesseth." Is that true, as an abstract principle? 
If we are to judge by what we see, we shall be forced to 
conclude that it is not true, or that men do not under- 
stand it. What do we witness on every side? Men are 
working six days of the week to gather earth's perishable 
treasures. They never allow the almighty dollar to get 
out of their sight. The quiet of the home: they cannot 
endure it. They work with their nerves on edge — strained 
to the utmost; and as to their pleasure and pastime, ex- 
citement must be the ruling element. The Church and 
church-life have no hold on their hearts. Her ways are 
ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace: and 
that is the very thing they do not want. If they can but 
gather earth-store, and feast and fatten on it; they are, 
in a measure, content. They make wonderful provision 
for the animal man ; and to that one thing they bend their 
energies. And yet, Jesus says, That is not life : that does 
not constitute the chief thing of life. The land on which 
we live; the stores which we gather from it: these perish 
in their use. We have them but a short time ; we cannot 
carry them beyond the grave; why, then, spend our 
strength in gathering that which does not last ! 

3. It is one thing to state a principle : it is sometimes 
not so easy to make it understandable. But Jesus was 
always equal to the task: He knew the principle, and 
He knew how to illustrate it. The theme, however, broad- 
ens at this point. Work life and church life are set side 
by side, with a parable to produce a startling effect. "The 
Rich Fool," is the common title. "The ground of a cer- 
tain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought 
within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have 
no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This 
will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build greater ; 
and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And 
I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid 
up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be 



Church-Life and World-Life 165 

merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy 
soul shall be required of thee : then whose shall those things 
be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up 
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." 

That makes plain a great truth which every one be- 
lieves but very few practice. There is a tremendously 
sad side to this picture. A rich man, increasing in riches : 
his whole thought centered upon it ; his whole energy given 
to it ; his whole heart finding pleasure in it and in nothing 
else. He adds store to store, till his barns are too small 
to hold his grains and fruit. A prosperous man was he. 
Read these lines; leave the man out of them; and what 
impression do we get ? One might suppose that these barns 
were planned to feed cattle! It is the animal man for 
which these provisions are being made: you would never 
suspect that he had either a mind or a heart. And the 
day came when God called him to account for it. And 
when He called him a fool, He named him aright. If a 
man were to clothe one arm and leave the other bare, we 
should think him a fool, or something worse. How, then, 
shall we rate the man who feeds his body and lets his 
soul starve? Let us be slow to judge, lest we fall under 
the condemnation of this Scripture, "Thinkest thou this, 
O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest 
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?" 

What are you working for ? What are you putting into 
your storehouse? potatoes and cabbage and the like? We 
certainly must make provision for these bodies. But do 
we stop there? Have our minds and our hearts no place 
in our daily program? Do we sit down three times a day 
and feed our bodies ? and doesn 't the soul get a single bite ? 
Do we read the daily papers, with their catalogue of crime ? 
and do we refuse to take a church paper, which tells us 
of church activities and deals with spiritual realities? Do 
we work six days to feed our bodies? and when Sunday 
comes, is there little or no thought as to our soul-refresh- 



166 Gospel Truths 

ment? It might be well for every one of us to ask our- 
selves: In what respect am I doing differently from the 
rich man of the text ? And if God should call us to account, 
as He did in this case, would He say, as He did here, "Thou 
fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee?" It 
is not a question of big barns bursting with fruit: it is 
a question of attitude. Gather riches if you please; but 
do not rob God in order to do it: do not rob your soul 
of its eternal peace. 

These, then, are the three points that I have found 
in the text: The Church and State-life, the Church and 
Heart-life, the Church and Work-life. And at every turn, 
we realize that we have an interested part. If we are 
truly in the Church — which means that we live a true 
Church life, we shall know what God expects of us in 
every sphere into which we are brought by His guiding 
providence, and we shall have the grace, too, to perform 
that service which He appoints and to attain that goal 
which He has set for our lives. To be rich toward God 
is the greatest possible riches: it should therefore hold 
first place in our hearts and lives. 



XXI 
THE EVER-PRESENT FUTURE 

Luke 12:39. And this know, that if the good man of 
the house had known what hour the thief would come, 
he would have watched, and not have suffered his house 
to be broken through. 

The text states a simple fact to which everyone gives 
ready assent. There is no room for dispute here ; for uni- 
versal experience establishes it. No man would sleep if 
he knew what hour the thief would come. He would watch, 
and be ready to give him the right kind of a welcome. And 
so, we shall not attempt to argue the point, but will dis- 
miss it with this passing notice. 

But these words are very suggestive: they open up a 
world of thought. And a wholesome kind of thinking, they 
excite. It is this fact that makes the verse such a timely 
text. For facts differ in effect. Some facts seem to have 
no effect: you mention them and that is the end of it. 
Others are no sooner brought to your notice, than they 
stir up the keenest inquiries and start countless streams 
of imaginary contingencies which might possibly arise: 
thus they have a wonderful reflex influence. Indeed, the 
effect of the Future — the possible future as well as the 
established future : the effect of the Future upon the Pres- 
ent is far greater than we commonly suppose. If we reflect 
a moment, we shall see the force of this statement. Let 
us particularize a little and follow the leading of the sug- 
gested thought. I am sure we shall do it with interest 
and profit. 

1. If the robber comes, it is at an unannounced time: 
it is a possible future in every home — not a necessary 
future. There is, however, such a thing as an impossible 

167 



168 Gospel Truths 

future. The future of impossibilities: what is it? It is 
thought let loose — the mind, unbridled, running into all 
kinds of relations and conditions that have no basis in 
fact and are totally outside the range of the possible. The 
mere dreamer feeds on it. And he does so with no thought 
of attainment. It is just a pleasing reverie — a moving 
picture that passes before the eye with a sort of pleasur- 
able effect: nothing more. It isn't intended to be any- 
thing more. There may be lofty ideals in it, a high moral 
tone, nothing base or debasing about it. It does no posi- 
tive harm, except, perhaps, to induce an aimless life. At 
most, its effect is but a negative one. It is only when 
it runs out into vile affections and sinful lusts that it pol- 
lutes the mind and heart, and paves the way for all kinds 
of evil acts. It then becomes very positive — destructively 
positive. 

There are two elements in it which may prove dis- 
astrous in the outcome. The one is where the mind revels 
in impossibilities till they seem possible. The other is 
where evil impossibilities suggest corresponding evil pos- 
sibilities. In the former case, the mind becomes unbal- 
anced, the brain breaking under the unnatural pressure. 
In the latter, the result is a series of crimes that send 
a shudder round the globe. These are quicksands into 
which we have no business to set our feet : it would mean 
the forfeit of our life — the forfeit of our eternal peace. 
Guard well thy thoughts. If you find a tendency in your 
day-dreams to carry you out upon the sea of impossibilities ; 
if you find the habit growing upon you, and an increasing 
pleasure in it : call a halt at once, or you will make ship- 
wreck of your life. The insane asylums, the reformatories, 
the prison-houses, are full of people whose minds reveled 
in impossibilities, until they lost their balance or broke loose 
in crime. And even where there is not this wreckage of 
the mental or moral part, there is that which unfits for 
solid service. The impractical people, the visionary peo- 



The Ever-Present Future 169 

pie — people of wild extravagances as to possibilities : what 
are they but the creation of extravagant thought. And 
so, that which is not a sin in itself, becomes a sin in 
its processes and in its unfailing results. And here, as 
elsewhere, the ultimate is the true measure of the act. It 
is the essence of the thing that determines its outcome. 

2. There is, in the next place, the vision of the im- 
probable future. The future of improbabilities: the out- 
comes that are possible but never materialize! How it 
harasses the heart and makes utterly wretched everyone 
who is possessed of it! It vexes most lives. Jesus warns 
against it when He says, "Take no thought for the mor- 
row. ' ' There are people who are forever borrowing trouble : 
they see nothing but the possible disaster of every issue. 
They are so certain as to the accomplishment of the evil 
they anticipate, that they are actually disappointed if it 
does not come. By their very attitude, therefore, they 
court and contribute toward it. They look into the future 
— f ar into it : they are sure they will come to want in old 
age ; they will be helpless, and no one will care for them ; 
they will be sick, and no one will nurse them; they will 
be hungry, and no one will feed them. And all this 
thought in the midst of the greatest abundance. If they 
plant, they worry about the harvest: the sun will scorch 
it; the frost will nip it. Fire and storm, heat and cold, 
flood and drought, are among the certainties of their 
future. And they worry over them as much as if they 
were in the midst of their ravages. This is no pen-picture : 
we all know people who are afflicted with an imagination 
which runs riot on every possible issue that has any proba- 
bility to it. 

The life that is harassed by visions such as these can- 
not be a prosperous or a happy one. To live at the base 
of an avalanche that any minute might break from its 
moorings and bury all beneath it ; to live with vast water- 
floods dammed high above, that might at any moment 



170 Gospel Truths 

burst their barriers and drown and destroy all before it; 
to live at the foot of a volcano which might pour out, any 
minute, its molten contents and consume every living thing 
on every side: what a constant nightmare that would be! 
And yet there are such places, with disasters such as these. 
And people who live within their range may well worry 
as to their possible disastrous effects. But it is almost 
inconceivable that any one, in the midst of a reasonable 
measure of security on every side, and the multitude of 
sources from which we are enabled to draw our daily 
supplies: it is inconceivable that any one should make 
himself and everyone else miserable by worrying and fret- 
ting about the future. It is wrong; because it unfits a 
man for the daily duties of life. It depresses and dis- 
courages : it kills the spirit of enterprise : it helps to bring 
about the very conditions it wishes to escape: it saps the 
life of purpose and hope. And worse than that: it is 
wrong, because it distrusts God; it doubts His promise; 
it treats Him as if He were powerless before world-forces. 
It is so unlike the confidence of the Psalmist: " Trust 
in the Lord, and do good : so shalt thou dwell in the land, 
and verily thou shalt be fed." And he said it because 
God inspired him to say it. And do we not have a share 
in His promise, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"? 
And if we do not trust Him to take care of our bodies; 
what about our souls? Can we be confident that, in His 
eternal keeping, they will be safe? Distrust has a far- 
reaching effect. If we distrust God at one point, we shall 
distrust Him at every other point. And if we trust ,Him 
for the greater, the soul-care, we surely should trust Him 
for the less, the body-care. That is what Jesus meant 
when He said, "Is not the life more than meat and the 
body than raiment?" 

3. The future of impossibilities, the future of im- 
probabilities — the visionary future and the future of pos- 
sible evil outcomes: let us get away from these; and let 



The Ever-Present Future 171 

us face the future of everyday fact. For there are great 
future facts — facts that we cannot escape, facts that we 
should not try to escape; and we should keep them con- 
stantly before our eyes. There was a possible future of 
the text : "If the good man of the house had known what 
hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and 
not have suffered his house to be broken through." The 
implication is that the thief came. And so the possible 
future became the future of fact. And what are some 
of the future facts that bear directly upon our lives — 
facts of whose certainty we do not have the least doubt? 
We do not have to search for them as for hid treasures: 
they abound on every side. 

(a) There is that fact of Scripture, "It is appointed 
unto men once to die." We know it; for it is a fact of 
nature : and we know that we cannot escape it. It comes 
like a thief in the night. It takes the young as well as 
the old; the strong as well as the weak; the good as well 
as the bad. It is no respecter of persons: it treats all 
alike. But while we cannot cancel its power, we can 
counteract its effect. We can so live that death becomes 
the gateway into life. God has made it possible: it is a 
part of His eternal purpose. But what of our part ? Are 
we looking to death as the gateway into life? Are we 
facing it in that spirit? The whole of this lower life 
should have before it the gateway into the higher life — 
not as a gloomy prospect, but as a glorious outcome. We 
go to school from seven to ten years to prepare for some 
one of the higher callings of life. We spend from three 
to five years to learn a common trade. We enter a store 
and toil for twenty years to reach the head of some de- 
partment. We are all the time getting ready for the 
future. And men praise us for our diligence and fore- 
sight. But what time and thought do we give to meet 
that one great event; so that when we pass out of this 
smaller life, we shall enter into the larger life? Who of 



172 Gospel Truths 

us comes to Christ with the one all-absorbing question, 
"Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 
We give our time and strength to mere temporalities: 
good things they may be; but they do not outlast time — 
they have no eternal value. 

(b) And there is the fact of an abundant entrance 
into life? We do not want to be saved so as by fire. 
We do not want to be snatched as brands from the burn- 
ing. We do not want to be crucified for our crimes one 
minute and enter into Paradise the next. Let us thank 
God that He can save to the uttermost, that He is willing 
to do it, that He has done it. But with the knowledge 
which we have, and the opportunities which we have, and 
the incentives which we have, we should be anxious and 
ambitious to go from strength to strength and from grace 
to grace. Every man with a manly nature strives to 
improve his knowledge and his skill and the wares he 
makes, whatever they may be. And every Christian ought 
to make it the supreme purpose of his life to move onward 
and upward in spiritual things. There should be a daily 
growth in grace, a daily development: there should be a 
broadening and a deepening of religious principles, that 
will multiply our happiness here and safeguard us against 
the wiles of the wicked one. And the great underlying 
purpose should be, not to meet the fact of death, but 
to meet the fact of life. The grave is but a passing inci- 
dent : the realities lie beyond it, and it is for these realities 
that we should prepare our minds and hearts. Just as 
every man with exalted conceptions of the possibilities of 
his nature, makes the best preparation possible for the 
duties of this present life; so each and every one of us 
should strive, by the appointed instruments of God's 
grace, even Word and Sacrament, to prepare for the 
highest possible happiness of the heavenly home. 

(c) The last great fact upon which I shall touch, to- 
night, is the fact of the judgment. We shall all stand 



The Ever-Present Future 173 

before the judgment seat of Christ. It is the final future 
that everyone must face. And if the man who suspects 
that the thief is coming at a certain hour of the night 
will guard his house and the treasures that are in it, 
shall we not watch and pray, so that the last great day 
does not take us unawares? It surely would be the part 
of unwisdom not to do it. And yet, the most of people 
take no thought of it. They move on from day to day, 
in business or pleasure, as if there were nothing beyond 
this life. The most of us are day-creatures: we seem to 
think that sufficient unto the day is the good we can get 
out of it, with the world's standard of what goodness 
implies. We get ready for everything except the great 
eternal fact — the fact that settles our eternal estate. And 
just here is where we differ so widely from the Apostles. 
They kept that last day full in sight. They looked for- 
ward to it; they planned in view of it; they were ready 
at all times to welcome it. It was their daily thought. 
And they were right: they were consistent. In all else, 
we look to the outcome: we surely ought to do it where 
our souls are at stake. 

"If the good man of the house had known what hour 
the thief would have come, he would have watched, and 
not have suffered his house to be broken through." And 
shall we not do the same? There are certain gateways 
through which Satan would come into our hearts and 
wreck our lives. He steals one man's soul by bad habits. 
He allures him to indulge in those things which, by con- 
tinuance, will debauch him and drag him down to the 
lowest kind of an immoral life. He steals another man's 
soul through his good habits. He makes him believe that 
he needs neither Christ nor the Church of Christ: that 
he can be saved by the uprightness of his own life. He 
steals another man's soul by business engagements. He 
tells him: you work hard, and you must have rest: go 
into the woods and along the streams; worship the God 



174 Gospel Truths 

of nature; gladden your eyes with nature-sights and your 
ears with nature-sounds; and thank and praise Him for 
His goodness and grace. In a thousand ways, the devil 
steals into men's hearts when they least suspect it, and 
robs them of everything which God would put there through 
Christ. 

It becomes us, therefore, to guard well the gateway of 
our hearts; so that the thief of souls does not break in 
and destroy the rich furnishings of God's grace. Then 
we shall not worry about the little futures that affect only 
our bodies ; but the soul 's future shall be our one consum- 
ing care: we shall get ready for it and rejoice when it 
comes. 



XXII 

THE DISCERNMENT OF THE TIMES 

Luke 12:54-56. And he said also to the people, 
When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway 
ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And 
when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will 
be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye 
can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; 
but how is it that ye do not discern this time? 

It is an acknowledged fact that every principle of juris- 
prudence is rooted in the Ten Commandments. There is 
not a single relation of life — Family, Church, or State — 
that does not find its true foundation there. A man like 
Moses could never have formulated such universal rules 
— rules whose universality reaches out, not only into every 
kindred, tongue and tribe, but also into all the moral 
avenues of all time, with the varied grades and degrees of 
civilization that mark it. 

As we come to the New Testament and look into the 
life of Christ, we find the same principle. In word and 
deed, in parable and miracle, in the sermon on the mount, 
in the storm on the lake; as He ate; as He sat by the 
well-side or by the way-side to rest ; in Temple and syna- 
gogue, in the house or on the street : anywhere and every- 
where, the sum-total reveals the wisdom that is altogether 
heavenly and divine. And the universal verdict is that, 
in word and work, the power of God is manifest. The 
centuries that have come and gone since His advent, have 
not changed the verdict. And time will never change it. 

The simplicity of almightiness was the charm of His 
life. When God builds a tree, He does not gather the 
material as men do when they build a house. He works 
through the silent processes of nature: there is an unseen 

175 



176 Gospel Truths 

infinite might. When God writes the Bible, He does not 
send the Prophets and Apostles to the great world-libraries, 
where they may consult the best thought of each preceding 
age, and then spend months and years in compiling the 
material that enters into the Testaments: nothing of the 
sort. There is that silent process such as marks the de- 
velopments in nature; and holy men of God, by a mighty 
inward impulse, spake and wrote as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost. 

These thoughts are right in line with the text. It 
deals with simple facts of nature, and a sharp applica- 
tion to men's lives. And those to whom Jesus spake must 
have quailed under the cutting rebuke. The medicine was 
suited to the disease. It was a bitter dose which He put 
to their lips ; and they were compelled to swallow it. There 
is set before us here a fact of nature. Jesus said to these 
people, "When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straight- 
way ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And 
when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be 
heat ; and it cometh to pass. ' ' And then comes that scath- 
ing comment, "Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of 
the sky and of the earth; how is it that ye do not dis- 
cern this time?" 

1. And we wonder why. The cloud appealed to the 
eye; and the eye judged by the darkness of the mass and 
the speed with which it came, that a shower would soon 
come. These men had so studied the sky that they could 
predict the storm almost to the minute. In the case of 
the south wind, the sense of touch decided the coming of 
the heat, as the sense of sight was used to forecast the 
shower. And in either case, the forecast was practically 
correct. And if the natural sense figures so accurately 
the coming of natural events, has man no spiritual sense 
by which he can determine the spiritual bearing of the 
times ? 

As a matter of fact, how was it when Jesus came? 



The Discernment of the Times 177 

Just as Patriarchs and Prophets had pictured it. Jesus 
said to the Pharisees, ' ' Search the Scriptures ; for in them 
ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which 
testify of Me." And when He was about to return to 
the Father, whence He came, He said to His disciples, 
" These are the words which I spake unto you, while I 
was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which 
were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, 
and in the Psalms, concerning Me." The whole Bible 
— their whole Bible — testified of Christ: and they should 
have discerned it as readily as they discerned the face 
of the sky. 

And not only did the Scriptures testify of Christ; 
but the life of Christ fulfilled the Scriptures. "When 
Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than these which 
this man hath done?" was the exclamation of the people. 
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, this was his 
honest acknowledgment, "Rabbi, we know that thou art 
a teacher come from God ; for no man can do these miracles 
which thou doest except God be with him." Follow His 
life, step by step; hear His words of truth and grace; 
mark His miracles of love; see God's almightiness every- 
where in word and act : and are not the evidences as plain 
as the cloud that sweeps the skies, or the softening breeze 
that whispers the coming of the heat! 

And the man who shuts his eyes to the sight; who 
closes every sense against the apparent fact of the divinity 
of Christ: what shall we say of him? How designate 
him? Jesus says that such a man is a hypocrite. He 
sees ; but he will not acknowledge it : he feels ; but he will 
not confess it: he knows; but he denies it. A hypocrite! 
Some people imagine that there are hypocrites only in 
the Church. It is a grand mistake. There are more hypo- 
crites outside the Church than in it. The man who sees 
no good in the Church of Christ, belies his experience as 
well as his observation. He knows that every Gospel prin- 

12 



178 Gospel Truths 

ciple is true and right. The man who says that the Church 
has no moral weight, lies in his heart and to his heart: 
and he knows it. He wouldn't live where there are no 
Churches: he couldn't endure it. The Church stands for 
every possible moral principle: the Church is set against 
everything that is wrong in word and act — aye, it goes 
back to the thoughts and intents of the heart and would 
cleanse every impulse there. And there is no institution 
in this world, outside of the Church or church influence, 
that thus arrays itself against everything that is wrong 
and stands steadfast for everything that is right. What- 
ever moral principle there is in world governments or 
world societies, the Church has put it there. And the 
man who denies it is woefully ignorant of a truth that is 
as evident as the cloud and the heat, or he is a hardened 
hypocrite. And the world is full of that kind of hypo- 
crites. As a matter of fact, I meet more world hypocrites 
than church hypocrites. 

2. How is it that people do not discern the times? 
How is it that they are so wise in worldly things and so 
ignorant about churchly things? How does it come that 
men pride themselves in some world usage; but if the 
Church should adopt a like usage, they would condemn 
it? If the Church should do as the world does, the very 
same men would call it narrow and heartless and bigoted 
— controlled by a mean, selfish, sectarian spirit? 

(a) The man of the world would like to be consid- 
ered broad in his interpretation of things that enter into 
daily life. And nowhere is he so emphatic as when he 
talks along religious lines. He would break down all dif- 
ferences: he would convert doctrines into sapless, sense- 
less platitudes. To him, the divisions in the Church are 
all traceable to the Dark Ages — which is absolutely false, 
and only emphasizes his sublime ignorance. Does he mean 
what he says : Or is he a hypocrite ? In either event, he 
does not read aright the signs of the times. 



The Discernment of the Times 179 

If he is an honest man, will he come down to the 
methods of the man who is not honest? The doctrine of 
good business is honest weight, honest measure, honest 
wares. If one man, in his line of business-life, gives light 
weight, short measure, or defective wares, will the man of 
sound business principles say, These things go back to the 
Dark Ages : we live in modern times : we dare not quarrel 
over trifles. Will he do it? If he does, he is a scoundrel 
from the hand clear back to the heart. And yet, such 
men expect the orthodox Churches to ignore their funda- 
mental principles, in order to put themselves on a footing 
with Churches that garble the Bible, deny Christ, and de- 
claim against every principle that deals with God's sav- 
ing grace. They have business sense and sight; but they 
lack the sense to use their sight in treating with the great 
principles of faith and life. 

(b) A second case in point which fits in at this par- 
ticular time. "We are all aiming for the same place ": 
"Get together, you church people": "Drop your differ- 
ences": "It is only the preachers that are keeping the 
people apart." I hear that kind of twaddle till I am 
heartily tired of it. If people have no principles, they 
have no excuse for keeping up separate Churches. But 
if they have principles, it would be treason to forsake 
them. "Get together; drop your differences!" Let us 
put our political parties to the same test. We are all 
committed to good government: we all want it. If the 
government is one; if our spirit of loyalty is one; if we 
are all working for good government, and nothing else: 
why are we, as a nation, split up into so many political 
parties? If the Kepublicans have a big mass meeting, 
will they invite a Democrat to address it? If the Demo- 
crats have a big mass meeting, will they invite a Socialist 
to address it? They draw the line close; they condemn 
each other's policies; they lampoon each other's candi- 
dates ; they will throw mud at each other from nomination 



180 Gospel Truths 

day till they cast their votes. Loyal men, every one of 
them — working for good government! And then, if the 
pastor of their Church proposes to do his work without 
mixing in with other Churches, they will set him down 
as a narrow bigot. They can discern the political times; 
and they act in view of it — with good conscience, let us 
hope. And can they not give the poor preacher the credit 
for acting from conviction and with good conscience, when 
he carries on the work of his Church independent of 
those who have a different doctrine and practice? After 
all, it seems to me that the Church has some rights that 
even politicians are bound to respect. 

(c) The signs of the times! Let me cite, in brief, 
a few more cases. And let me emphasize this one point: 
What I have already said, or am about to say, is not a 
criticism upon the things I cite — although there might be 
more or less room for it: they are introduced merely to 
illustrate the thought that men are prone to blame the 
Church for the very things they tolerate in themselves 
and practice in their world-life. I want to show that 
the same men who study the times and govern them- 
selves by so-called good practical sense, deny to the Church 
the same privilege. 

This old town is full of lodges : we have them on every 
side. They are building magnificent Homes — fine gather- 
ing places for kindred spirits. Why don't they get to- 
gether and form one great Lodge? Why do not the 
smaller ones disband and unite with the larger ones ? They 
won't do it? And yet these very men — some of them — 
are forever finding fault with the Churches for not com- 
bining their interests and massing themselves into one. 
Some of these societies have a ritual, with a burial service. 
They have a right to it: the right or wrong of it is not 
the question here. But this is the point: Would one 
order bury a member of some other order? Would they 
use their ritual at an outsider's grave? You never heard 



The Discernment of the Times 181 

the like of it. But these same men would be shocked if 
a Protestant minister should refuse to bury some one who 
was not a member of his particular Church: they would 
hold up their hands in holy horror at the thought. The 
Eoman Catholic Church, be it said to her credit, buries 
no one who is not a baptized member of the same. The 
Greek Church has a like practice. And no secret society 
would violate its rules and do it. And why the great 
mass of people should look upon the Protestant Churches 
as a sort of religious annex to an undertaking establish- 
ment, is a profound mystery to me. One case more. I 
can remember when the robe was not worn in the most of 
our Protestant pulpits. And I have known men to leave 
the Church because the pastor introduced it. I venture 
the assertion that in churches where the robe is not worn, 
right here in this city, if the minister should wear one, 
some of the members would fly into a rage; and the 
preacher would have to drop it, or they would leave. And 
yet, these same men belong to societies where the officers, 
at least, are rigged out in special robes: and they take 
great pride in it. I could go on, by the hour, and cite 
instance after instance of world usage which men not only 
tolerate but in which they find their chief delight ; but if 
the Church would do the same, they would scowl, and 
scold about its formalism, its narrow uncharitable spirit, 
its adherence to rites and ceremonies that find their basis 
in the Bible and are sanctified by time. 

I have cited these instances as illustrative of the lead- 
ing thought of the text: men can discern worldly things 
and give them their proper worldly estimate; but they 
fail to see how the same principle applies to church doc- 
trine and practice. They will not discern the religious 
signs of the times. What remains for us? To set our- 
selves right, and to interpret aright the every-day earth- 
issues. And then, wherever we find an eternal principle, 
let us not expect, as a matter of course, that the world 



182 Gospel Truths 

will stand by it, and then insist upon the Church depart- 
ing from it. Let us follow world-principles to their root 
source, and if that source is what it should be, let us 
shape our world-conduct according to it. And in like man- 
ner and degree, let us follow church principles and prac- 
tices to their root source; and if we find them bedded in 
the Bible, with Christ as their life, let us be manly enough 
and courageous enough to follow them out to their legiti- 
mate results. We understand world elements ; let us strive 
to understand church elements, to the consistent shaping 
of our church lives. 



XXIII 

REPENT RATHER THAN JUDGE 

Luke 13:1-5. There were present at that season 
some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood 
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus 
answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these 
Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, be- 
cause they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, 
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those 
eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew 
them, think ye that they were sinners above all men 
that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but except 
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 

We are filled with wonder at the miracles of Christ. 
They are marvelous evidences of His divine nature; for 
when He spake, it was done: when He commanded, it 
stood fast. It is the appeal to the eye that impresses — 
a passing panorama from water to wine, from sickness to 
health, from demonism to discipleship, from death to life: 
in every instance, a response to His divine voice. In the 
miracle of nature, God turns water into wine. It is He 
who multiplies the loaves and fishes, so that He answers 
your prayers and mine, "Feed me with food convenient 
for me." And in the miracle of grace, He brings men 
up from the death of sin to newness of life in Christ. 
These, however, are unseen processes : the natural eye does 
not see the movement — the transference from stage to 
stage. And so, the miracle-side of nature has no wonder- 
ment connected with it. The reality, none the less, is 
there. 

The words of Christ, unlike His works, do not appeal 
to the eye. And while He spake as never man spake, the 
average hearer is scarcely conscious of it. If, however, 
we follow Jesus from place to place, hear His answers to 

183 



184 Gospel Truths 

the great questions of life, note how quickly He replies 
to His enemies and how completely He silences them: if 
we study His method of meeting all kinds of statements 
of fancy or fact, and how He draws the proper moral in 
every instance and drives it home to His hearers' hearts, 
we are impressed by the fact that His words as well as 
His works are full of miracle. And of this, the text fur- 
nishes a striking example. 

1. We have, in the first place, the incidents of the 
text. There are two cases of death by violence. We find 
no record of either of these in the Scriptures. The first 
case, of course, could not be recorded in Scripture, for 
it was a matter of recent occurrence. It would seem that 
certain Galilaeans had come down to Jerusalem to take 
part in some of the stated feasts; and while they were 
in the Temple, offering their sacrifices, the soldiers of 
Pilate slaughtered them in that holy place — the greatest 
indignity and disgrace that could be put upon it. The 
heathen temples were places of refuge: the horns of the 
altar of God's House secured the life of him who sought 
safety there. There have been instances in the history 
of the Christian Church when soldiers were ordered to 
slay the preacher in the pulpit: they would absolutely 
refuse to do it, because they would do no violence to the 
sacred office or the consecrated place. 

While there is no record of this particular instance, 
there are cases of a like nature. At one time, the Roman 
soldiers were sent into the Temple, and they slew three 
thousand men while they were engaged in offering sacri- 
fice. It is supposed by some that these Galilasans, who 
were a turbulent people, had refused to acknowledge the 
Roman Government; and for that reason Pilate ordered 
this slaughter in the Temple. It may be, too, that it was 
either the cause or the result of the quarrel between Herod 
and Pilate. In any event, we may set it down as an his- 
toric fact — something which had just happened; and the 



Repent Rather Than Judge 185 

report of it was brought to Christ. And they had a spe- 
cial reason for telling Him about it — a reason which His 
answer suggests,, and which we shall consider at the proper 
time. 

And now, right upon this report of violence, Jesus 
cites a case of accident. The language implies that the 
case was a well known one: it had happened to people 
who dwelt in Jerusalem. The Pool of Siloam was near 
by, with its magnificent porches: and this is commonly 
supposed to have been the place of the accident. All this, 
however, is only a matter of conjecture. But that does 
not affect the fact. There have been great poets, great 
statesmen, great men in almost every walk of life, whose 
birth-place and birth-date are only matters of conjecture; 
but what they did and how they did it are certified facts : 
there is no dispute about it. And so, while we do not 
know just when this happened, or what the circumstances, 
the very fact that Christ refers to it as something of 
which they had knowledge, in order that He might make 
plain the truth He taught, convinces us that He is deal- 
ing with something that actually took place. In any event, 
it serves the purpose of giving point to His argument and 
the inference based upon it. And that is what concerns 
us the most. 

2. Jesus takes these two cases, the one in which cer- 
tain men lost their lives by violence, the other where death 
came by accident, and He gets a searching question out 
of each — a question which, no doubt, drove straight home 
to the thoughts of the hearts of those who told the dis- 
tressing tale: "Do you suppose, " said He, "that these 
Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilasans, because 
they suffered such things ?" "Do you imagine that those 
eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew 
them, were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem ?" 
And that is the question which Jesus has put to you and 
me more than once in our little life-time. What answers 



186 Gospel Truths 

have we given? What answer do we give when violence 
or accident has taken a life? 

If these two questions were put in positive, abstract 
form, this is about what they mean : Do not judge ; do not 
condemn ; do not criticize ; above all, do not think evil in 
your hearts. "Why think ye evil in your hearts ?" That 
is the pointed question Christ put to His enemies: He 
puts the same question to you and me. These men who 
came to Jesus and told Him about this deed of violence, 
must have regarded it as a judgment. And He reproves 
them for it. He tells them, in substance, that they have 
no right to imagine that they have suffered because they 
were sinners above everybody else. And then He cites 
another case — one of accident: and He tells them that 
here again they have no business to judge. Judgment 
belongs to God, who sees thoughts and motives and de- 
sires, and who measures them aright. He sees the cause: 
while poor mortal eyes can see only the effect. 

This is not merely the sin of some old Pharisee: this 
is the sin that the most of us are prone to indulge; and 
some people actually glory in it — it furnishes them their 
chief delight. If a man dies by violence, everybody is 
imagining the providential cause: they seem to think that 
God is after him and has overtaken him at last. It is 
heathenish to think such a thought. There is an island 
named Malta. In early times, a barbarous people dwelt 
there. It was on this island that the ship was wrecked 
which was taking Paul a prisoner to Kome. The season 
was cold, and they kindled a fire. The Apostle gathered 
a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire; and as he 
did so, a viper came out of the heat and fastened on his 
hand. And when those barbarians saw it, they said among 
themselves, "No doubt, this man is a murderer, whom, 
though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth 
not to live. ,, We expect such things from barbarous peo- 
ple; but shall not Christians live on a loftier plane? And 



Repent Rather Than Judge 187 

yet, is it not a fact that when some distressing accident 
happens, we get very wise about it and we are sure that 
it is a special judgment? It is this spirit that Christ here 
reproves. And we shall do well if we catch the warning 
of His voice. What right have we to sit down and mumble 
among ourselves about the "awful visitation, ' ' the "ter- 
rible judgment,' ' when God alone knows what lies back 
of it? Why are we thinking evil in our hearts when 
thoughts of pity and mercy and grace should occupy our 
minds ? Why do we see evil in every mysterious outcome, 
unless evil is the controlling power in our inward parts? 
You know it, as well as I do, that the person that is 
always suspecting everybody else, is the very person whom 
we are compelled to watch the most. And you know, as 
well as I do, that the person who sees the possible evil side 
of every act, must have an evil heart to imagine it. For 
it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth 
speaketh: it is out of the heart that come the issues of 
life. 

3. Jesus takes these two questions, the one that tells 
of violence and the one that speaks of accident, and He 
weaves them into a lash which He lays upon the backs of 
these ungracious people. He says that the great question 
is not with reference to those men who died by violence 
or accident: what about yourselves? He would find in 
these two instances, not a question as to God's judgment, 
but a call to repentance. They are to look away from the 
horrible crime and the distressing accident and the prob- 
able reason for the visitation upon those poor lives; and 
they were to look down into their own hearts to learn the 
true state there, and to repent of it. With them, the 
question should have been, not, What about those poor 
creatures, but what about themselves. And that is just 
where we come upon the scene: that is where we must 
find ourselves. 

There is sickness and death in the home, there is a 



188 Gospel Truths 

distressing accident ; and the mourners go about the streets. 
Take the death column, the accident column, the misfor- 
tune column, out of our daily papers — to say nothing of 
the column of crime — and there would be but little left. 
And as we sit down and read it and moralize about it, 
we seldom weave ourselves into the account. If we happen 
to be acquainted with some of the people, we know why 
they suffered ; we see what is back of the mysterious provi- 
dence. And if we don't see it, we suspect it. But we 
never think for a moment of ourselves. And yet, that is 
the spirit which Christ here reproves. He seems to say, 
Look to yourselves; look into your own hearts, and re- 
pent! Aye, that is the point to which we should come. 
We should realize that it is of the Lord's mercies that 
we are not consumed. And then, instead of trying to 
fathom the evil that is in other people's hearts when some 
calamity sweeps down upon their homes, to look deeply 
into our own hearts and thank the Lord that He has spared 
us, while others have suffered who are just as good as we 
are. And then, with truly repentant hearts, we should 
confess : 

"Lord, should Thy judgments grow severe, 
I am condemned, but Thou art clear." 

If the goodness of God leads to repentance, surely 
the severity of God should drive us to repentance. And 
that is the thought here. The very fact that we see evil 
back of accident, or vice back of violence, shows how cor- 
rupt our hearts must be. And this should lead us to smite 
our breasts, as did that other penitent, and cry out in 
agony of spirit, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." It 
puts, as it were, an object lesson of our soul's estate right 
before our eyes. It empties our hearts, in our very pres- 
ence, of the poisonous dregs that are settled there ; and all 
the foulness and filth which they cherish, are brought 
directly under our gaze. What vile things we harbor 
there! And it sometimes takes life about us to reveal it. 



Repent Rather Than Judge 189 

4. And now, when the word ' ' repent ' ' stirs our spirits, 
the Master couples it with another word which strikes ter- 
ror to the soul: it is the word "perish." "I tell you," 
said He, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
He turns their story of a crime which someone else had 
committed against people of another province, into a moral 
for their own lives. If physical death comes because of 
social or physical conditions into which men are brought 
in the common course of events, what will not come to 
them if they break God's commandments; if they move 
on reckless as to results; if they do despite to the Spirit 
of grace? These men, in comparative innocence, had suf- 
fered death by violence or accident : what of them if they 
set themselves up deliberately against the Lord and His 
Christ? I tell you, the men who came to Jesus to peddle 
a little news, with a grudge in their hearts, or something 
worse, must have gone away with a sting set there which 
would give them neither rest nor peace till they came to 
repentance. 

And if we do not learn the lesson they were taught, 
we must realize that we are constantly asking questions 
ourselves in the place of these men who came to Christ: 
we have expanded this text to no purpose. We must put 
in our hearts, which are the proof of our own sinful 
estate. We must realize the sin of drawing evil inferences, 
when the only occasion for it is our own corrupt thought. 
And when Christ, by His Spirit, has made plain to us 
the sinfulness of such conduct, we should repent in sack- 
cloth and ashes, and confess with the Psalmist, what we 
so often sing in our service, "Have mercy upon me, O 
God, according to Thy loving kindness: according to the 
multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgres- 
sions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and 
cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my trans- 
gressions, and my sin is ever before me." 

And the more so, since we know that those who do not 



190 Gospel Truths 

repent snail perish. There is no doubt about it: God's 
Word declares it. And our own hearts tremble at the 
thought. Let us, then, set a watch upon our lips and a 
guard at the gate of our hearts, so that we think evil of 
no one, nor put wickedness into our words by the very 
questions we raise. In too many cases, the evil we imagine 
of others is the evil that rules in our own hearts. And so, 
in our wise utterances with respect to others, we are simply 
laying bare the state of our own hearts. And that ac- 
cords with what Christ says, "By thy words shalt thou 
be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned." 



XXIV 

LOST AND FOUND 

Luke 15:11-24. A certain man had two sonS! and 
the younger of them said to his father, Father, give 
me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he 
divided unto them his living. And not many days 
after the younger son gathered all together, and took 
his journey into a far country, and there wasted his 
substance with riotous living. And when he had spent 
all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he 
began to be in want. And he went and joined himself 
to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into 
his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have 
filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: 
and no man gave unto him. And when he came to 
himself, he said, How many hired servants of my 
father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish 
with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and 
will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, 
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called 
thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And 
he arose, and came to his father. But when he was 
yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had com- 
passion, and ran, and fell on his> neck, and kissed him. 
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his 
servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on 
him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his 
feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and 
let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, 
and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. 

The tender compassion of Christ : nothing can measure 
it. It is infinite, because He is infinite. The Scribes and 
Pharisees had murmured, saying, "This man receiveth 
sinners and eateth with them. ' ' He did not consume them 
in His wrath, according to their merit. He did not even 
meet them with sharp rebuke. He told them the story 
of the lost sheep and of the lost coin — parables of active 
interest and love, parables of search made and dangers 
met. And the application in each case is unmistakable. 

191 



192 Gospel Truths 

The next parable is that of the lost son. It completes the 
list: it brings the issue straight home to their hearts. 

In the whole range of classic literature, there is noth- 
ing more beautiful than this parable. The story is such 
a simple one: it fascinates; it entrances; it holds the in- 
terest. It never jars the senses. The thought, the word, 
the act: each is true to life. In the depths of our con- 
scious selves, we assent to it. It is the mirror of nature : 
we see our own natural hearts there. And we bow our 
heads in confusion and shame, and confess it. Let us now 
look at ourselves in the glass of this parable. And may 
the sight stir up some penitent thought whose end is peace. 

1. "A certain man had two sons." It is the younger 
upon whom our interest centers at this time. He came 
to his father and said, "Father, give me the portion of 
goods that falleth to me." The claim is an unnatural 
one: it marks the spirit of a false independence. The 
father has nothing that the son does not have: that is 
true of every true home life. And the true enjoyment 
of the father's substance is right in the father's house. 
And what an abundance is there for pure pleasure! The 
earth was made and furnished for human happiness. Its 
material substance, its moving creatures: these are de- 
signed to minister to man's comfort as well as to the joys 
of life. The endowments of our nature are all but in- 
finite. The senses are the avenues through which nature 
pours the purest delights; and mind and heart gather 
them, and feast upon them, and are satisfied with these 
rich provisions of the Father's love and grace. And it 
is only the lustful heart, the lawless heart, that wants to 
break away from the restraints of the home. The re- 
straints of the Home: there is no such thing in God's 
House, and there should be none in yours and mine. There 
is no restraint to do what is right. There is no restraint 
to the exercise of the graces of the Spirit. There is no 
restraint to the temperate use of anything that God has 



Lost and Found 193 

put in this earth for our enjoyment. There is no restraint 
except where there is evil indulgence or over-indulgence. 
And when the young man says, "Give me the portion of 
goods that falleth to me," it is evident that he is bent 
on giving himself to a riotous life. The only true life 
is the home life — the life in the heavenly Father's House: 
all else is artificial and false. 

2. And now, this young man, with a feverish notion 
of independence, gathered up his share of the estate, took 
his journey into a far country, and there wasted his sub- 
stance in riotous living. It was the only logical outcome. 
He had said, in simple fact, I will be my own master: I 
will see life and enjoy it: I will give myself to revelries 
far distant from my father's house. And now, let us take 
stock, for a moment, of his share in the estate. He gath- 
ered all together: he took with him the very things he 
had in his father's house. There were the same beauties 
of nature; there were the same natural senses to drink 
them in and satisfy the taste. He had just exactly what 
he had before: the same possessions, the same avenues for 
their enjoyment. But there was no restraint to his ap- 
petite: the wholesome influence of the home, the sane rule 
of the home — these were lost. And he gave loose rein 
to unbridled lust. In leaving his father's house, he left 
his father's love; he left his father's fostering care. He 
did worse: he left his conscience — at least he tried to do 
it; he left every manly impulse; he left all temperate 
habits: he left everything that puts a pure zeal into the 
enjoyments of life and that blocks the way to all immod- 
erate as well as all immoral indulgence. The bad which 
he could not do, with good conscience, under his father's 
eye, he now indulges to the basest limit. The good which 
he had enjoyed in moderate measure, he now consumes in 
mad revelries. He has the same senses that he had be- 
fore ; he has the same abundance that he had before : but 
the manner of their use, the purpose of their use, the 

13 



194 Gospel Truths 

measure of their use, mark the moral difference. The one 
is the moderate use of God's gifts in the father's house: 
the other is the immoderate use of God's gifts far from 
the father's house in wicked debaucheries. 

3. The tax of sin consumes human substance. The 
price men pay for wicked lust, the awful price! The 
money-price is the smallest part. It is too small, in a 
comparative sense, to mention here. The man spent all 
the home supplies : and then came a famine — a distressing 
famine with its distressing want. What a picture we get 
here! He left his father's house, a free-born child there; 
he joined himself to a heathen as a slave; and he lived 
and ate with swine. Life outside of the Father's House 
is slave life. Feasts outside of the Father's House are 
slave feasts and swine feasts. There are two words here 
which we should brand upon our minds and hearts : Famine 
and Want. It is the curse of every God-forsaking, God- 
despising life. It is the curse of every riotous life. The 
man who gives himself over to unrestrained indulgence, 
dries up the very springs of true enjoyment. He blunts 
his appetite and blurs his brain, so that he suffers a most 
distressing famine. The man of miserly habits gets no 
true enjoyment out of the money he clutches. He grasps 
and gets, he feasts on it ; but his hunger increases and his 
soul famishes. the hungry look that stares from the 
miser's eyes! The man who becomes the slave of drunken 
or gluttonous habits, eats and drinks, and drinks and eats ; 
while the famine consumes his inward parts. There is 
the same abundance on every side. He fills himself with 
drink; but the thirst abides: it burns with a vehement 
desire and nothing can quench it. He eats, but without 
enjoyment, without the assuagement of the hunger that 
gnaws at the vital parts: tasteless as husks is everything 
he touches, like the disgusting mess that the swine trample 
under foot. It is a horrible picture of the soul's estate 
as it wanders away from the Father 's House and . seeks 



Lost and Found 195 

in far-away world retreats to satisfy its lust with worldly 
pleasures. The heart hunger, the soul famine: and the 
filthy husks the world offers to satisfy it ! 

4. God created man in His own image. The likeness 
is a moral one: its prime feature is conscience. It never 
deserts the man, though the man may try to desert it. 
He may smother it ; he may chain it ; he may enslave it ; 
but he cannot quite kill it. There is, what we might call, 
the sensitive chord of conscience. It takes a certain tone, 
a certain touch, to cause it to vibrate. The most hard- 
ened criminal has been softened by a child's voice. The 
most depraved have been brought to the longing for a 
better life, when the word "mother" sounded in their 
ears. The remembrance of child-life has sometimes quick- 
ened the noblest impulses in the vilest hearts. For memory 
is the handmaid of conscience. And memory is per- 
sistent. And so, the prodigal came to himself: memory 
blazed its way through the dark recesses of his hardened 
heart; and conscience followed it. He came to himself. 
He saw his real plight; he remembered the abundance of 
his father's house; and he resolved to act. He said, "I 
will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, 
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and 
am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as 
one of thy hired servants. ' ' It took a stroke to bring him 
to repentance — the pinching want. What of it, since it 
brought the man to his knees! The memories of home — 
the sweet remembrance : what heart is not touched by it ! 
The selfish, self-willed spirit is gone. There is no mer- 
chandising here — no material gain in thought. The man 
recognized sin to be at the bottom of all his woe. And 
that sin is stripped of all circumstances. He stands out 
naked and alone. "God" is the man's first thought. So 
like the Psalmist, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned 
and done this evil in Thy sight." Every sin is, pri- 
marily, an insult to God : we cannot escape the issue. The 



196 Gospel Truths 

person wronged takes second place. The person wronged 
is, at most, intermediate — a sort of material medium 
through which men revile God and blaspheme His holy 
name. Joseph had the right conception when he was 
tempted to deeds of shame: "How can I do this great 
wickedness and sin against God!" And no repentance, 
on our part, is true, which does not begin there. Only 
when we are awake to the fact that, whatever our sin 
may be, it brings us into fellowship with swine; only 
when we have learned to loathe the filthy husks of a god- 
less life: only then will our hearts yearn after the old 
companionship in our Father's House, and drive us in 
penitence there. 

5. And so, the prodigal ' ' arose and came to his father. 
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, 
and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and 
kissed him. ' ' The love, the tender pity, of the true father- 
heart ! He did not have to knock at the door of his father's 
house to waken his forgiving grace. The first far-off move- 
ment in the direction of home sent the father with the 
welcome of a father's love. It reminds us of the tender 
appeal of Christ, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; 
if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come 
in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." And 
now the rejoicing is as great as the sorrow had been be- 
fore. What a weight it must have put upon the father's 
heart to hear that rude demand, "Give me the portion 
of goods that falleth to me." It was not parting with 
the treasure that broke his heart : it was the abuse of that 
treasure. It was more: it was the fact that the very 
treasure which he had gathered for his son's comfort and 
support, should become the unholy instrument for that 
son's sin and shame. And now, the joy that his son was 
coming home! The inheritance all gone — what cared he 
for the perishable treasure that had turned his boy into 
a beast: the joy that filled the father-heart that the son 



Lost and Found 197 

has left the carnival of shame and has returned in the 
lowly spirit of the truly penitent! It was the crowning 
happiness of his life: no wonder he made a feast and 
gladdened his heart with music and dance! 

And now, shall we not find ourselves here? Have we 
not seen ourselves at every turn in this parable? For it 
is a parable of life — every repentant life. Two thoughts, 
in particular, I should like to impress upon your minds 
and hearts. The first is suggested by that scene where 
the prodigal son recalled the abundance of his father's 
house. It was this that started him on the homeward 
course. I venture to say that there is a prodigal chapter 
to every life. It may be that you and I never got so 
low that we were housed with swine. But all God-f orget- 
fulness, as good old Augustine suggestively puts it, is 
wandering into a far country: and he spoke from his 
heart ; for he had his share of it. And must we not con- 
fess that there have been times when God was not in all 
our thoughts ? And what brought us to our senses ? What 
was it but our Baptismal covenant : the pledge of our son- 
ship ; the knowledge still deep in our hearts that we were 
bound to our heavenly Father in the fellowship of love 
through Jesus Christ? And the confidence that He was 
waiting our return to give us a Father's embrace! And 
that is the one comfort we have when we see the young 
wandering away from the Church of Christ. Some day, 
they will hunger and faint. Some day, they will grow 
weary of their empty, frivolous, wicked life. Some day, 
they will turn in loathing from the husks and the swine. 
Some day, the desire will spring up in their hearts to 
return to their early church-life and their early church- 
love. And then they will come back; and they will find 
the Church with outstretched arms, waiting to welcome 
them to her embrace. And what a happy moment that 
will be? Let us pray God to send a famine to the heart 
of every prodigal that has wandered from their church- 



198 Gospel Truths 

home, so that they may be led to renew the fellowship 
which they left and find new joy in it. 

The second thought is this: We know by sad experi- 
ence that every evil desire, every unholy purpose, every 
unlovely act, marks our separation from our Father '& 
House and the entrance upon a riotous life. And we 
realize in our hearts that every noble sentiment, all sor- 
row for sin in its essence, is a movement from the far 
country to our old Home. The thought that God waits 
for us, that He gives the Father-kiss before we have even 
sought His pardoning grace, enables us to put on courage 
and to prostrate ourselves in penitence at His feet. For 
it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. 

Let us find ourselves, then, in this parable- — not only 
in our wanderings away from our Father's House, but 
especially in our return to His blessed embrace. And 
may we so seek His presence, and find it, that we may 
never be tempted to wander again from the bosom of His 
love. 



XXV 

THE BREAD OF LIFE 

John 6:47-57. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that 
believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread 
of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilder- 
ness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh 
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and 
not die. I am the living bread which came down from 
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for- 
ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which 
I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore 
strove among themselves, saying, How can this man 
give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have 
no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh 
my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at 
the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my 
blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and 
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As 
the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the 
Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 

The great discourse on the Bread of Life is the turn- 
ing-point in the history of Christ. It was a doctrinal 
test: and the people could not stand it. The parables, 
the miracles, the loaves and fishes; the words that touched 
upon the outer life, the works that affected the physical 
nature: these stirred the multitude to praise. But when 
the issue became a doctrinal one and startling mysteries 
marked it, they lost all interest, and lapsed into indiffer- 
ence, and fell away into their old manner of life. 

It is human nature; and we are full of it. The pres- 
sure of a doctrine: most people will not stand it. The 
graphic sketch of Bible incident, the picture of a life with 
a thrill to it, the moral that fits everywhere ; like the 
loaves and fishes, the multitude will crowd around to eat 
it. It furnishes a sort of intellectual feast; it quickens a 

199 



200 Gospel Truths 

sentiment that satisfies: and that is what most people 
crave. But the doctrine that probes the heart, the doc- 
trine that lays bare each native impulse, the doctrine that 
threatens the doom of death and shuts off all human escape, 
the doctrine that points out one way of life and none else : 
it is quite too narrow for this broad age. And yet, truth 
is a straight line, and a mighty narrow one. Depart from 
it an hair's breadth, and all is false. In work-life, in 
trade-life, in home-life: the least theft is theft, the least 
impurity is impure, the least lie is lie: everybody is will- 
ing to admit it. But when it comes to the foundation 
principle of eternal life, they rebel against it. The truth 
none the less stands fast. There are a thousand paths 
to death; there is only one into life. And that is a per- 
sonal one: it is He who says, "I am the way, the truth, 
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." 
And He said it the night He went forth to die. 

We find the roots of the text back in the charge which 
Jesus made against the multitude that had followed Him 
for the sake of the loaves and fishes. It was then He spoke 
of that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. And 
when He demanded faith in Him whom God had sent, 
true to their nature they insisted upon a sign to prove 
that God had sent Him. Their fathers had eaten manna 
in the wilderness : God had given it to His people by the 
hand of Moses. And then they seem to have paused, with 
the implied thought, "What kind of manna do you give?" 
It was at this point that Jesus proclaimed Himself to be 
the Bread of Life. He is the true heavenly manna: by 
faith, men become partakers of His life. And now comes 
the broad statement of the first verse of the text, "He 
that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. ' ' 

There are three distinct stages in the text, with a 
central verse to mark each part. And they are on the 
ascending scale. They are more: they are cumulative; 
they multiply mysteries; they reach the highest possible 



The Bread of Life 201 

point. Accept the first, and you adopt the last. Doubt 
the first, and you deny the last. There is no room for 
any half measure here. 

1. Here is the first central statement: "This is the 
Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may 
eat thereof and not die." Jesus had been very patient 
with these people. He had said, "I came down from 
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him 
that sent Me." How could they believe it when they 
had the earth-conception of His life? And so they said, 
"Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and 
mother we know? How is it, then, that He saith, I came 
down from heaven?" They saw only the physical side 
of His life — the earthly, family part. And with their 
faces set steadfastly there, they could not get the heavenly 
attitude. 

"Jesus the son of Joseph": the premise is false; and 
that is why their conclusion is false. Jesus was conceived 
by the Holy Ghost. His birth was a supernatural one: 
it was out of the course of nature. If we start at that 
point, there is no mystery in all His earthly life that is 
not in fullest harmony with it. If we stumble at that 
point, we shall reject every other mystery that Scripture 
records relative to His earthly estate. The Church stands 
or falls upon the doctrine of the supernatural birth of 
Jesus Christ. The whole trouble, here, started at that 
point. 

The unbelief of our times : what begets it ? It is that 
phase of modernism that denies all mysteries, inclusive 
of all miracles. And how does it meet these direct claims 
of Christ ? It makes short work of it : it throws the whole 
Gospel of St. John out of the Bible: and that settles it. 
And whatever of the other Gospels it cannot throw out, 
it edits and interprets. If only these men would be honest. 
If only they would come out fair and square, and say, 
"We are not Bible disciples; we are free moralists," every 



202 Gospel Truths 

one would take them at their own estimate, and they would 
get no more following than a Buddhist priest. But they 
use just enough of the Bible to deceive the innocent and 
the unsuspecting; they attack it just enough to tickle the 
worldly wise ; and they assume, in either ease, such a lofty 
moral and intellectual tone as, at times, to deceive the very 
elect. Let me assure you that he who is deceived thereby 
is not wise. 

If we cannot take Jesus Christ at His word, whom 
shall we believe ? He says, ' ' I came forth from the Father 
and am come into the world; again I leave the world and 
go to the Father. " He says, "This is the Bread which 
came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and 
not die," And now, the question becomes personal with 
you and me, Shall we partake of it and live? Shall we 
refuse to partake of it and die ? Life and death, heaven and 
hell, hinge upon our attitude. As we stand beneath the 
shadow of the Cross, which shall we choose? There is the 
psychological moment in every life : we dare not do violence 
to it ; we dare not spurn it. And if there is one within the 
sound of my voice who wavers or doubts or denies, it may 
be his last chance to make his calling and election in Christ 
Jesus sure. Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not 
your heart. 

2. The next central statement carries with it two ad- 
ditional thoughts. Jesus says, "I am the living Bread 
which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this 
bread, he shall live forever : and the bread that I will give 
is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 
He here defines the bread : "My flesh," He calls it. And 
then the whole world is included in the gift. No wonder 
the Jews strove among themselves and said, "How can 
this man give us his flesh to eat?" 

We must bear in mind that when Christ spake, the 
Cross was not far distant. And then He would give His 
flesh. It is significant that He does not use the word 



The Bread of Life 203 

' ' eat, ' ' but the word ' ' give. ' ' It was the Jews, who inter- 
preted His speech; and when He said, "I will give My 
flesh," they inquired among themselves, "How can He 
give us His flesh to eat?" For the moment, let us retain 
the word "give" — the word that Jesus uses. He gave His 
life: it was a voluntary surrender on His part. A little 
later, He said, "I lay down My life: no man taketh it 
from Me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again." He said to Pilate, "Thou couldest have 
no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from 
above." There He stood, Almighty to live; Almighty to 
give His life; Almighty to retain it. And it was His free 
choice to give His life. 

And then comes that second point: He gave His life 
for the life of the world. It was an infinite sacrifice: it 
was an all-atoning sacrifice. And anything short of it 
would have been unworthy of Jesus Christ. "God so 
loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have 
everlasting life." By the grace of God, He tasted death 
for every man: no one is shut out by an absolute decree 
from His kingdom of grace. 

"And everyone His grace may prove, 
Loved with an everlasting love." 

The Jewish conception, however, was that the Messiah 
should save none but the Jewish race. And there are still 
those who would limit His saving merit to chosen ones 
who were predestinated to share it. "The World," says 
Christ. The grace of Christ throughout this sin-cursed 
globe: the universality of it! And if any man fails or 
falls short of it, it is not God's fixed decree that cuts him 
off: it is the perverseness of his nature. And to all such 
people Jesus says, "Ye will not come unto Me that ye 
might have life." The universality of God's grace in 
Christ is distinctly declared everywhere in the Gospel mes- 



204 Gospel Truths 

sage. And here, before He goes to the Cross, He pro- 
claims it. His life the all-atoning sacrifice; the world, in 
all time and every place, the object of His redeeming 
love: the glory it gives to His name, the comfort it brings 
to our hearts! It declares, at once, His praise and our 
peace. 

And the fact that it is universal implies that no one 
can dispense with it. If it were only for the Jews, it 
would be fair to infer that the Gentiles did not need it. 
But since He gave His life for the world and His dis- 
ciples were commissioned to preach the Gospel to every 
creature, the world needs it, the world could not do with- 
out it; and whosoever will be saved, must be saved by it. 
And this actual universality in purpose implies the pos- 
sible universality in effect. It therefore demands the uni- 
versality of effort. It is here where we find the chief 
incentive to all mission enterprise. The sacrifice of Christ 
necessitates, on our part, the sacrifice for Christ. 

3. The third central statement, or series of statements, 
was forced upon Jesus by the Jews themselves. He had 
said, "The bread which I will give is My flesh/ ' And 
they raised the question among themselves, "How can this 
man give us His flesh to eat?" He accepts their inter- 
pretation and applies it, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His 
blood, ye have no life in you." "Whoso eateth My flesh 
and drinketh My blood hath eternal life." Jesus, you 
see, adopts the word which they read into His statement 
and bases His argument upon it. 

' ' How can this man give His flesh to eat 1 ' ' The word 
"eat" has a general sense as well as a specific one. Sick- 
ness eats out the life: the sea eats away the shore: taxes 
are sometimes said to eat up the rents. And the Psalmist 
says, ' ' Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge : who 
eat up my people as they eat bread?" The word "con- 
sume," or "destroy," expresses the thought in each case. 



The Bread of Life 205 

It was the thought of Christ when He said, "Destroy this 
temple, and in three days I will raise it up." How, then, 
did they eat His flesh? Not in any animal sense; but by 
sending Him to the Cross: there they ate out His life. 
That is the outward, physical sense. 

But there is an inward spiritual sense. Jesus says, 
"Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
His blood, ye have no life in you." "Whoso eateth My 
flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life." He that 
eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, 
and I in him." There is more than the crucifixion im- 
plied here: the crucifixion, in itself, was not unto life. 
It did not save Judas; it did not save Pilate; it did not 
save the Scribes and Pharisees who drove Him to the Cross, 
nor the soldiers who nailed Him there. The physical act 
of destroying His bodily life — eating up His flesh by the 
Cross — had no saving power, no saving effect. And so, 
when Jesus says, "He that eateth Me, even he shall live 
by Me, ' ' the act must be understood to be a spiritual one. 
It means, to be specific, that the whole Christ, human and 
divine, must enter into our lives. It means that the entire 
Christ, human and divine, must be received into our 
hearts, appropriated there, assimilated there. And this in- 
volves a mystical union which makes Him, by the proc- 
esses of grace, a vital part of our spiritual life: just as 
the bodily eating of flesh makes it, by the processes of 
nature, a vital part of our physical life. It was this 
thought — the deep consciousness of the fact — that impelled 
St. Paul to write, "I live; yet not I: Christ liveth in 
me." And above all, it is a sublime figure of that great 
succeeding fact when He instituted the Holy Supper, de- 
claring the real presence of His undivided and indivisible 
nature, the Human and the Divine, and imparting Him- 
self, in the fulness of His two natures, in that sacred 
Feast. The complete appropriation of Christ — the life 
sacrificed upon the Cross, body and blood given there; 



206 Gospel Truths 

the life transmitted through the Gospel of grace, body and 
blood presented there; the life communicated in the Holy 
Sacrament, body and blood imparted there; the whole 
Christ at every stage, in a way peculiar to it: such is the 
plain teaching of Scripture; and such is the confident 
assurance it creates in our hearts. 

The bread from Heaven, in the person of Jesus Christ ; 
the Bread of Heaven, given for the world, and not for a 
part of the race; the Bread of Heaven, eaten when His 
life ebbed upon the Cross, apprehended when men lay hold 
of Him by Faith, and assimilated when they receive Him 
into their heart of hearts: this constitutes the mystical 
union of the Christ-life with our life; this is the consum- 
mation of His earthly estate. 



XXVI 

NATURAL SIGHT AND SPIRITUAL 
INSIGHT 

John 7:33-36. Then said Jesus unto them. Yet a 
little while am I with you, and then I go unto him 
that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find 
me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come. Then 
said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, 
that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dis- 
persed among the Gentiles? teach the Gentiles? What 
manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, 
and shall not find me ; aud where I am, thither ye cannot 
come? 

It would seem that Jesus lived in a murmuring age 
and among a murmuring people. The time was one of 
great unrest. And there was occasion for it. The yoke 
of Rome was upon God's chosen race: and they chafed 
under it. The ordinances of God's House were sacredly 
kept; but they were hollow at heart. And when Jesus 
came and brushed aside formalities, He set the nerves of 
the Pharisees on edge : it offended their fine taste. And so> 
there were constant disagreements and disputes. The age 
was ripe for revolution in Church and State: there were 
troubles on every side. The text introduces one of these 
scenes of charge and countercharge, which were so com- 
mon when Jesus met His enemies and was drawn into 
dispute. 

The stress and strain of the times are telling on our 
nerves. We are fed on munitions and U-boats and aero- 
planes and powder-plants — perfect magazines of war sup- 
plies ; and it takes a very small spark to make us explode. 
You know what I mean : I mean that these strenuous times 
have stretched our nerves to the limit; and that the least 
friction makes us fly into a fit of murmuring and com- 

207 



208 Gospel Truths 

plaint. The machinery of home-life, work-life, Church-life, 
is strained at every point : it is bound to break if this ten- 
sion continues; and then the awful wreckage. What we 
each must do, within ourselves, is to curb our spirits ; pos- 
sess our souls in patience ; be swift to hear, slow to speak, 
slow to wrath : and time will smooth out the rough places 
and soften the hard spots and make the bitter sweet. 

The priests and scribes, the Pharisees and Sadducees, 
were in constant strife with Christ. (They picked at His 
words and traced His very deeds to the devil: that were 
the limit of hate. The people, the honest-hearted people, 
heard Him gladly; and they said, "When Christ cometh, 
will He do more miracles than these which this man hath 
done?" But the men who sat in the chief seats of the 
synagogue and made broad their phylacteries, would have 
it otherwise: So they scattered the poison of suspicion and 
distrust and hate: at last, they filled up the cup of their 
iniquity by nailing Him to the accursed tree. They did 
not understand Him because they would not understand 
Him: sin and self ruled their hearts. 

The words of Christ, as recorded in the text, are as 
plain as plain can be. When He says to His enemies, 
"Yet a little while am I with you; and then I go unto 
Him that sent Me. Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find 
Me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come," we know 
what He means: He means that the day of His ascension 
is not far distant. But the Jews said among themselves, 
"Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will 
He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach 
the Gentiles ? ' ' They saw only the natural man, and they 
could see nothing beyond the natural life. And that fact 
suggests some very interesting thoughts. 

1. An external knowledge deals only with externalities : 
it cannot penetrate the hidden parts. These Scribes and 
Pharisees knew Jesus' name and face; but they did not 
know the Christ. They saw the humanity of His life ; but 



Natural Sight and Spiritual Insight 209 

the divinity was hid from their eyes. It was not His fault : 
it was their own perverseness that made them blind as to 
His divine nature. He moved, day after day, in their 
midst; He spake as never man spake; He performed 
miracles, and they were compelled to acknowledge it; His 
life was pure and perfect ; He challenged men to show that 
there was the least stain of sin upon it: and yet they 
denied the Holy One and the Just; they asked that a 
murderer be set free. 

It is this outward, superficial knowledge that settles, 
like a frost, upon the Church of Christ. The men who 
are hostile to the deity of Christ, are hostile to Christ. 
They read of His Virgin-birth; but they deny it. They 
read of His miracles; but they deny the possibility of 
miracles. They read of His resurrection; but they deny 
that He arose. They read of His ascension ; but they claim 
there is nothing to it. They are brought face to face with 
Christ in the Scriptures just as surely as these Jewish 
people were in physical fact; but they push it all aside 
as the impossible. And that settles it. And they point 
with pride to the large list of great men who did not be- 
lieve that Jesus was divine. 

And right here lies one of the greatest fallacies of the 
age. It is the shallowest kind of sophistry to argue that 
because Voltaire and Tom Paine and John Adams and 
Thomas Jefferson, and a host of other leading lights along 
their special lines, either denied outright or were silent as 
to the deity of Christ, therefore Christ was not divine. It 
is the most senseless argument ever put up by a man who 
pretends to be sane. If you should break your ankle, 
would you send for the Chief Justice of the United States 
to come and set it? If you were on trial for your life, 
would you want Thomas Edison to plead your case? If 
you wanted a tooth pulled, would you let an editor try 
his hand at it? And if you would know the truth as 
it is in Jesus, will you go to men who know nothing about 

14 



210 Gospel Truths 

Him beyond the moral of His life? Why are not men 
honest ? If they deal with astronomy, they will quote every 
great astronomer of this and every other age. If they 
deal with medicine, they will quote every man who has 
ever been prominent along medical lines. If it is a ques- 
tion of Law, they will quote the great jurists. If, however, 
it is a question of theology, they will quote men great 
in medicine, great in jurisprudence, great in politics, great 
along some other line of life; but there will not be a 
great theologian in the list. They never quote the Apostles, 
or the Church Fathers of the early age. They never quote 
Luther or Calvin or Wesley or Knox or Krauth or Hodge. 
The men they quote know Christ only from the outside 
— just like the Scribes and Pharisees — with a great preju- 
dice as to His inner life. 

And that is where these men who criticize the ortho- 
dox Churches are either supremely ignorant or brazenly 
dishonest. They are well aware of the fact that no man 
is considered an authority outside of the line along which 
he is a specialist. And yet, they go outside of Bible spe- 
cialists to bolster up their unbiblical theories. And then 
they make the boast: See what an array of great men 
deny the deity of Jesus Christ! Let us not be misled by 
these modern Scribes and Pharisees, who see only the 
human side of Christ 's life, but are blind as to the divine. 
As in the days of St. Paul, professing to be wise, they 
make fools of themselves; and they try to make fools 
of everyone else. 

2. Over against this natural knowledge of Scripture, 
and above it, there is a spiritual knowledge: and these 
Scribes and Pharisees did not have it. It is a knowledge 
peculiar to the new life, which sees things in their original 
source by spiritual insight and traces them out to their 
ultimate. It is like dealing with like. Just as it takes 
physical life to deal with physical realities; so it takes 
spiritual life to deal with spiritual realities. If a man, 



Natural Sight and Spiritual Insight 211 

therefore, is not a new creature in Christ, he cannot com- 
prehend the things of Christ. Take the case of our physical 
natures. If a man does not possess the sense of sight, his 
judgment of colors would carry no weight. The same holds 
good in the case of every other physical sense. And can 
we not understand that a man must be spiritually alive, 
with spiritual sight and insight, in order to understand 
the Bible aright? World culture lacks the essential prin- 
ciple. It may be keen along intellectual lines, but it is 
deaf and dumb — aye, dead — in its relation to spiritual 
realities. It can never be master, therefore, when we deal 
with the things of the Spirit; though it may be very 
useful as a servant. 

These Jewish people had the Old Testament Scriptures ; 
but they rejected the Christ. They had but the outward 
grasp of Moses and the Prophets. The shell of truth they 
knew by sight ; but the seed of truth had not entered their 
heart. For a mere knowledge of the facts of Scripture — 
the act of the intellect — does not enable a man to lay hold 
of its inner essence. To analyze food products will not 
build up the bodily tissue: the products themselves must 
enter into the physical life and become a living part of it. 
To analyze the teachings of Scripture will not build up 
the spiritual nature: it must be received into a good and 
honest heart. And once there, it will impart life and 
light. And that is where a large percentage of people 
fall short. They get at the Bible in every imaginable way 
but the right one. And then they say, We have seen Jesus : 
He has the same human shape; He has the same animal 
wants; He is just a mortal like ourselves. And where- 
ever the miraculous enters into His life, they merely brush 
it aside as something unworthy of notice; for they have 
decided that there is no such thing as miracle. 

The man who comes to Jesus as these Scribes and 
Pharisees came, will get the message they got : ' ' Ye shall 
seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, thither 



212 Gospel Truths 

ye cannot come." There is no comfort there. The man 
who comes to Jesus to lay violent hands on Him, will get 
the message they got : 1 1 Ye are from beneath ; I am from 
above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world; ye 
shall die in your sins, if ye believe not that I am He." 
There is not much comfort there. The man who denies 
the deity of Christ gets the answer the Pharisees got: 
"Ye are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your 
father ye will do." And surely, there is no word of com- 
fort there. How different is His message to those who 
gladly heard His voice: "I am the Light of the World; 
he that f olloweth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life." "If any man serve Me, let him 
follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant 
be." And why this difference? It all depends upon the 
attitude. The one who sees Christ as a man, and no more, 
cuts himself off from the offices of Christ : there is nothing 
but judgment in his case. The one who sees and knows 
Christ as God manifest in the flesh inherits the promise. 

3. We have, then, the attitude of the Scribes and 
Pharisees : we have also the attitude of the disciples. They 
all saw the same Christ: they heard the same words He 
spake; they beheld the same miracles. And yet, the for- 
mer were His enemies; the latter dwelt in His love. 
Wherein lies the difference? One little word declares it. 
The disciples had Faith in Christ; and so they followed 
Him in love. These Jewish leaders had no faith in Christ ; 
and so they pursued Him in hate. 

These two classes of people are constantly in evidence: 
we have them at the present time — the same spirit under 
a different name. There are the faithful followers of 
Christ, who believe every word that the Scriptures record 
with respect to His earthly life, from the Annunciation 
to the Ascension. And their reward is great; for they 
have the promise of the life that now is and of that which 
is to come. And then there are those who doubt and 



Natural Sight and Spiritual Insight 213 

deny whatever of miracle pertains to His earthly existence. 
For them there remains nothing but judgment and fiery 
indignation which shall devour the adversaries. The love 
of Christ: how the disciple clings to it! But let us 
not forget that the wrath of the Lamb is also mentioned 
in Scripture. Let us not forget that the same Jesus who 
said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved"; 
it was He too that said, "He that believeth not shall be 
damned." Throughout the Word of God, the two con- 
ditions are set side by side: they are treated as great 
eternal facts. There is no sliding scale here — no shading 
off between the two estates. We are either on the right 
hand or on the left: we either believe or we do not be- 
lieve: we are either elect or reprobate: and it rests with 
us to settle the issue. Jesus made as great an effort to 
save the Scribes and Pharisees as He did to save the 
publicans and harlots. He taught in the Temple and syna- 
gogue, whither the Jews resort, as well as on the moun- 
tain-side or seashore, where, at times, there were none but 
the Twelve. On his part, Judas had as good an oppor- 
tunity as James. 

How is it, then, that one is taken and another is left? 
It rests with their own hearts. If one man goes to the 
Word of God and feeds on the Bread of Life, he will 
grow in grace; for Christ shall be formed in him the hope 
of eternal life. If one man goes to the Word of God and 
accepts only what he understands and rejects all its mys- 
teries: if he dissects it, and analyzes it, and classifies it, 
and brings it under his critical gaze as he would some 
world science, the truth will not reach his heart with its 
regenerating and sanctifying might. The critic has no 
Christ; the scholastic has no Christ; the one who doubts 
and denies has no Christ: and outside of Christ, God is a 
consuming fire. 

How, then, shall we open the Bible? To meet God 
there and learn His will in His laws and ordinances: to 



214 Gospel Truths 

meet Christ there and commune with Him in the fellow- 
ship of love: to meet the Spirit of grace there, so that His 
renewing might may be exercised on our hearts and lives. 
The Word is Manna from the skies: let us feed upon it, 
and our souls shall be blest. 



XXVII 

THE TRUTH MAKES FREE 

John 8:31-36. Then said Jesus to those Jews which 
believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are 
ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, 
and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, 
"We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to 
any man: How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And 
the servant abideth not in the house forever; but the 
Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make 
you free, ye shall be free indeed. 

The word "Truth" has a large place in Jesus' life. 
It is the essential element of His nature, as love is the 
very essence of the divine attributes. For just as St. John 
says, "God is Love," so Jesus says, "I am the Truth." 
We are not to play the part of Pilate and treat truth as 
an abstract principle — as something that has small place 
in this practical age. Pilate made a great mistake: a 
man cannot sneer truth aside. 

In the realm of the inanimate, everything is true to 
its nature. The law of gravitation, like the God who made 
it, has no variableness neither shadow of turning. The 
man who builds a wall, stone by stone, knows this fact; 
and he constantly uses his plumb-line so that he may build 
true to it. The compass points straight to the pole-star; 
and though the sky is set full of shining spheres, the pilot 
never tries to guide his ship by one of these. In the realm 
of the animate, everything is true to its nature. Animals 
and plants never change places: they each remain what 
they were when God first called them into being. Man 
may cultivate them away from their original estate, but 
he cannot change their nature. Everything that lives is 

215 



216 Gospel Truths 

true to its life-principle, true to its origin, true to its 
species. And there is not only truth in its inward parts 
but in all outward development. It is the history of all 
animal and plant life. 

As soon, however, as we enter the realm of man, which 
is the realm of moral life, we find it otherwise. Man was 
made in God's image; but he did not retain it. He sinks 
farther and farther away from the divine likeness and falls 
to the level of the brute — and even below it. He there- 
fore is not true to the divine source whence he came. A 
moral agent must be a free agent: there is no morality 
where there is no freedom to act. And so, the Freedom 
of the Will is one of the essentials of all moral life. And 
in the freedom of his will, man departed from God 's coun- 
sel and commandment. The animal, the plant — each is 
true to its nature; but man departed from it: he lost the 
heavenly part of his nature and became a slave to its 
earthly part. Christ came to set him free; and the truth 
was the agency by which He would do it. For, you know 
what the poet says, 

"He is the Freeman whom the Truth makes free; 
And all are slaves beside." 

"The Truth," then, is the root-thought of the text- 
its power in those who accept it, the loss which comes to 
those who depart from it. 

1. The Power of the Truth! Is there power, then, 
in an abstract principle? It has no power until it comes 
in touch with life. The power of Law: it has none until 
it enters into the community life. The power of the Bible : 
it has none as it lies on your table; but receive it into 
good and honest hearts, and it becomes the power of God 
unto everyone that believes. There is a power in every 
principle proportioned to the end for which God gave it 
and conditioned upon the fact that it be used as God 
designed it. And there can be no interchange: nothing 



The Truth Makes Free 217 

can take its place : no substitute here, much less subterfuge. 
A case in point: A knowledge of figures will not make a 
man honest. And why? Because there is no moral prin- 
ciple there, and consequently no moral outcome. Each 
truth develops along its own line: it never enters the 
sphere of another, except as a helpful adjunct. Just as 
plant grows into plant and nothing else ; so mental thought 
develops the mental part, and moral thought the moral 
part, and spiritual thought the spiritual part. Men are 
not made Christians by studying philosophy or science or 
art. There is an old saying, and a true one, "Man is what 
he eats." The intellectual man is meant here. If he 
"eats" philosophy — enough of it — he will become a phi- 
losopher of some sort. The same is true of the arts and 
sciences — in a certain restricted sense. It may be true that 
"the poet is born, not made"; yet every poet reflects his 
environment. Dante would not be Dante without the Italy 
in which he lived: Milton and Burns are what they are 
largely because of where they were. For what is poetry 
but the outburst of the heart, with the native impulse to 
fire it and the outward circumstance to give it shape? 
Milton could never have written "The Cotter's Saturday 
Night"; nor Burns, "Paradise Lost." Each wrote the 
truth; it came from an outside source; it welled up from 
their hearts and through their hearts into the universal 
heart. Have thoughts like these anything to do with the 
text? A great deal more than we might suppose. They 
are germinal along intellectual lines; and we shall find 
their exact counterpart along spiritual lines. 

(a) The Power of the Truth. Jesus had just said 
some wonderful things with respect to His own divine life. 
And as He spake, "Many," we are told, "believed on 
Him." "Faith cometh by hearing; and hearing by the 
Word of God." And so, the words of Jesus — which were 
spirit and life — put the principle of Faith into their hearts. 
Then said He, "If ye continue in My word, then are ye 



218 Gospel Truths 

My disciples indeed." The Truth has power to make dis- 
ciples. Why, then, does not everyone who hears it be- 
come a disciple? When Christ spake to the winds and 
the waves, they obeyed His voice. When He spake the 
word of healing, men were made whole. There is not a 
single ease on record where that which He commanded, 
was not done. But when He spake to the stubborn hearts 
of Scribes and Pharisees, they set their perverse will in 
opposition to His call to repentance and faith and holi- 
ness of heart; and this was His sad complaint, "Ye will 
not come unto Me that ye might have life." The man of 
un-faith, the man of false faith, will not hearken to His 
voice. The natural heart is harder to move than stocks 
and stones. 

But the man into whose heart the Word of life comes, 
and stays — that Word, like a seed, will take root and blos- 
som into faith; and the fruits of faith will increase. For 
Faith is not a dead fact: it is a living principle; and it 
does not rest till it reaches out into other lives. "No man 
liveth unto himself": he cannot do it. For better or 
worse, he lives in other lives. The disciple of Christ takes 
on trust the words of Christ. He does not doubt, for a 
moment, a single syllable. And why should he doubt? 
"I am the Truth," says Christ. He does not simply 
speak the truth, as you and I may speak it: truth is an 
essential element in His life: eternal truth is there; and 
it is everlastingly true. It was not simply true for His 
time and His race: it is true for all time and for every 
race. Jesus was not a passing incident in this world- 
age: He is from everlasting to everlasting the same; and 
Truth is His eternal attribute. And so if we believe the 
truth as He gave it, we too are His disciples. 

(b) The Truth does more than make disciples : it sets 
men free. Such is the promise: "Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free." In the case 
of the true disciple, the truth has the peculiar power of 



The Truth Makes Free 219 

making a man understand it in essence and spirit — not 
a mere knowledge of the Gospel facts, but an earnest, a 
hearty, a whole-hearted assent to the truth which they de- 
clare. As soon, therefore, as a man begins to question 
the words of Christ, we know by that very fact that the 
roots of truth are being pulled up out of his heart and 
that he is becoming a slave to world-theories. The Truth 
sets free: free from doubt, free from denial, free from 
everything that does not have Christ as its heart and 
life. Some people talk about the slaveries of Scripture. 
What nonsense! It is not slavery to live an honest life, 
an upright life, a pure life. If only we had a little more 
slavery of that sort. Is God a slave because He cannot 
lie? Call it slavery, if you please; but know this: the 
strictest adherence to truth is the highest liberty of true 
life. The Truth makes free: free to think and do the 
right, and nothing else; free to scorn every evil thought 
and impulse, and to trample it under foot as a venomous 
serpent. 

2. The second part of the text has, as its leading 
thought, "Departure from the Truth. " I have already 
hinted at man's power of resistance. He cannot with- 
stand the forces of nature, which are God's agents. Heat 
and cold, wind and wave: man is the sport of these ele- 
ments. But in point of moral resistance, he measures 
strength with the Almighty. And so men carried out their 
wicked devices and crucified the Christ. But their power 
ended there. Man's strength and weakness: how they 
loom up on every side! It takes a hundred years to build 
an oak-tree: a man can destroy it in a minute. But he 
cannot restore it: he is powerless there. A man, by a 
brute act, can blast a precious life; but he cannot put 
innocency into the desolated heart. A man, by a word, 
can ruin his neighbor's good name; but he is powerless 
to undo the injury he has done. The might of a man 
with a wicked purpose to inspire his heart: nothing but 



220 Gospel Truths 

the grace of God can change it. And what about its 
wicked source f It all comes by departing from the Truth. 

(a) A departure from the truth breaks the line of 
descent. These Jews said, "We be Abraham's seed and 
were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye 
shall be made free?" They were, indeed, the natural 
descendants of Abraham; but they were not his children 
by spiritual descent. Man walked with God; but as soon 
as he ate the forbidden fruit, he departed from the truth 
which God had set as the law of his life, and from that 
moment he became the slave of every sinful desire. The 
fellowship with God was destroyed; and man could not 
restore it. There was a chasm high as heaven and deep 
as hell; and man was powerless to span it. The same 
almighty power which, at the first, did create, must re- 
create. Jesus Christ by His almighty power bridged the 
abyss between death and life; the Holy Ghost, in the al- 
mightiness of His power, makes us new creatures in Christ. 
The Jewish people, by losing the Faith of Abraham, lost 
the Abrahamic covenant : they became children of bondage. 
And now the truth of Christ — the truth about Christ — is 
the only thing that can set them free. 

It is not different in our case. If those who departed 
from the Faith of Abraham were cut off from Abraham's 
covenant, and no longer had any share in it, like the dead 
branches cut from the parent vine; surely we, who are 
not the seed of Abraham by natural descent but are Gentiles 
by nature: we surely were not born free. But as Abra- 
ham took God's Word as Truth — believed it and followed 
it; so if we accept God's Word as Truth — the whole body 
of Scripture of which Abraham had but a small part, 
simple and direct: if we believe and follow it, we are 
Abraham's children by spiritual descent. And if we have 
Abraham's faith, we shall inherit Abraham's promise. 

(b) As soon as a man departs from the truth, he 
ceases to be free: he actually becomes a slave. We are 



The Truth Makes Free 221 

dealing here with the poles of thought. To break with 
God is to make with Satan. To drop the good is to take 
up the evil. If we do not believe, we doubt. If we do 
not assent to the doctrine of Christ, we reject it. There 
is no neutral ground on which to set our feet. "He that 
is not with Me," says Christ, "is against Me." We can- 
not serve God and Mammon: we cannot have our hearts 
set in two places at the same time: if we tell the truth, 
there is no lie in it: we cannot be on both sides the river 
at the same time: if we tell a lie, the truth is not in it. 

And we cannot be bond and free at the same time. If 
the Son makes us free, then are we free indeed : but if not, 
then we are slaves. The people who deny Christ, imagine 
they are free: they are not bound by the Bible. What 
blindness of mind and heart! They are the slaves of 
their own thoughts, their own theories, their own philoso- 
phies. They say, "The Bible is not infallible"; but they 
hold to the infallibility of their own self -thought infer- 
ences. The only true freedom is the freedom which the 
truth gives. And there is no spiritual truth but the truth 
which the Holy Spirit gives. For we believe that the 
prophecy in old time came not by the will of man; but 
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost. And time, with every wicked assault from age 
to age, has not shaken our faith in the truth of what 
is embodied there. 

"Truth": what else did God ever give? Go down 
into earth's mines: true silver, true gold, true iron, true 
lead: all true metals there; no counterfeits, no base sub- 
stitutes. Look out over this earth: true trees, true grass, 
true grains: there is nothing artificial there. Search the 
Scriptures: they are the revelation of God's will and grace. 
Is there a single historic statement that is false? a single 
commandment that is not pure and right? Is there a 
single precept that is not just? a single promise that does 
not lift us up and set our feet in heavenly places? 



222 Gospel Truths 

And the truth of Christ — the truth that sets free; the 
truth that turns us from every evil way and gives us 
grace and strength to discard it; the truth that builds 
us up into a godly life and makes us rejoice in it: shall 
we not cherish it, and love it, and live it ? To this end, it 
must dwell richly in our hearts and be a living principle 
there. Then we shall be free to do right, with the free- 
dom in which God lives; we shall be free to hate sin, as 
God in His freedom hates it. There is no slavery where 
truth reigns supreme. The truth sets free: it is error 
that enslaves. Once more: 

"He is the Freeman whom the Truth makes free; 
And all are slaves beside." 



XXVIII 

JESUS THE HOME GUEST 

John 11:1-11. Now a certain man was sick, named 
Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister 
Martha. Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, 
Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus 
heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, 
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might 
be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her 
sister and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that 
he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place 
where he was. Then after that saith he to his dis- 
ciples, Let us go into Judea again. His disciples say 
unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone 
thee; and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, 
Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man 
walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the 
light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, 
he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. These 
things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our 
friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake 
him out of sleep. 

The story of Lazarus is a most interesting one. It is 
a picture from home life. It was, in one sense, a sad home : 
father gone, mother gone; two sisters with their brother 
all that is left. But it had become a happy home, because 
Jesus was a frequent visitor there. And now a new sad- 
ness had come to it : ' ' Lazarus was sick. ' ' And Jesus 
once more is their comfort and hope. Jesus the Home 
Guest: let us try to understand what it meant to these 
people; let us try to realize what it should mean in our 
case. To call Him; to know that He will come, that He 
will help, that He will save: what courage that must give 
in the midst of the bitter trials that are incident to all 
our lives! 

I wish we could project ourselves into this scene — 
become, as it were, a living part of it. The home was 
like our homes; its cares and duties were the same; its 

223 



224 Gospel Truths 

troubles and annoyances were the same; its wants the 
same; its sorrows the same. And so, we shall find noth- 
ing new there: it will be like stepping into a neighbor's 
house. It is only as we thus become a part of a scene 
that we get the true inner view of that which it is de- 
signed to represent. For the story is not told for His- 
tory's sake: it is recorded for our sakes. And that fact 
furnishes the chief reason why we should study it. There 
is a chain of providences here: they are the revelation of 
the providences that are common to every Christian home. 

1. I find, in the first part of the text, a loving trust. 
"Lazarus was sick." The sisters knew the love of Christ: 
they knew the nature of Christ: they knew the gift of 
Christ. And with a childlike trust, they sent for Him. 
And this was their message, "Lord, behold, he whom Thou 
lovest is sick." There is no scene in Scripture more simply 
sublime. An appeal to Jesus' love: and then the plain 
fact that should call its almightiness into exercise. It 
was the logic of the heart. Jesus loved Lazarus; they 
loved Jesus ; Lazarus was sick ; and they sent the message 
of trust and love. The sweet simplicity that marks it! 

And now, let us transfer the scene to our own home. 
Someone is sick there. Do we love Jesus? Jesus loves 
us: there is no doubt about it. Do we trust Jesus? We 
should, if we don't. If we do, then let us go to Him, or 
send for Him, and tell Him our trouble. We send for 
the doctor; and that is right. We hand the sick one over 
to his care; and that too is right. And we should just 
as confidently seek Jesus' presence, as did these sisters 
when sickness came into their home. The confiding spirit, 
the simple trust that when we have told Jesus the story 
of our sorrow or care, He will know what to do and will 
surely do it; the sense that He is as real to us as He was 
to Mary and Martha: such should be our loving, trusting 
attitude toward Christ. Let us cherish it and cultivate 
it every day of our lives. 



Jesus the Home Guest 225 

The next verse gives us a glimpse of the inner work- 
ings of the mind of Christ. He said, "This sickness is not 
unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of 
God might be glorified thereby." In the case of these 
sisters, it was something quite different. They saw only 
the outward sorrowful side — just as we do when sickness 
comes into our homes. But there was a divine side, and 
Jesus reveals it. The Son of God would be glorified by 
it; and they themselves would be lifted up to a nobler 
spiritual plane. The divine side of sickness, of suffering, 
of trouble of any sort: do you suppose it was limited to 
the case of Lazarus and his sisters? In that event, the 
Evangelist would never have mentioned it. This story 
is told for you and me : we must read ourselves into every 
line. If you get sick, with the love of Christ in your 
heart and Christ 's love for you an assured fact, then some- 
how God will be glorified by it. And if God's glory is 
a factor in our sick-hours and our pain-hours, by His 
grace we can not only bear it: we should glory in it. 
That was, in part, St. Paul's thought when he wrote, 
"Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my in- 
firmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 
Link the love of Christ, the power of Christ, the glory 
of Christ, with your sufferings and sorrows and cares, and 
the burden will become light : aye, more, a glory will shine 
through it. 

2. A loving trust, then, was shown by these devoted 
sisters — trust in Christ : and He meets them with a loving 
test. The test of love! For love has its tests. As we 
read the verse, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, 
and Lazarus," we should suppose that He would rise up 
at once and hasten to their home. What were the facts? 
"When He had heard, therefore, that he was sick, He 
abode two days still in the same place where He was." 
Jesus so often did the very opposite to what we imagine 
He should have done. It was so here. 

15 



226 Gospel Truths 

I often wonder how these sisters interpreted Christ's 
conduct. Mary, the patient one, might have endured it. 
But Martha, the quick, active, alert, must have been won- 
derfully wrought up over it. Was there reason for worri- 
ment on their part ? Human reason — plenty of it. Divine 
reason — not a particle. Jesus loved them: they knew it. 
And they should have known that, in the promptings of 
His love, He would come at the right time. Their love 
for Him was of the pure spiritual type : His love for them 
was of the perfect divine type. Love never faileth — your 
love and mine — if it has a divine source. Surely Christ's 
love never faileth; for it comes from the divine essence. 
A day and a night passed, a night and a day: and yet 
the Master did not come. What could it mean? Aye, 
but that was a crucial test: who of us could stand it! 

And why should we doubt ? Why doubt in the midst 
of so many promises? When the Lord says, "Call upon 
Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou 
shalt glorify Me": does He mean it? And can we not 
depend upon it ? We know how it turned out in this case. 
Lazarus died and was laid in the grave; and yet, Jesus 
did not come. But when, at last, He came, what a blessed 
outcome! From death to life, from sorrow to joy — and 
God glorified by it! We get, here, the outward workings 
of God's providence. It brings to mind the lamentation 
of Jacob: "Me have ye bereaved of my children; Joseph 
is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin 
away: all these things are against me." In point of fact, 
these very things were the beginning of the brightness 
of Jacob's life. The loss of fortune, the loss of some 
precious life, the loss of fame: if we could but see the 
inner workings of providence, we should find them fash- 
ioning a future that shall be big with blessings, breaking 
over our heads like precious ointment. Let us believe the 
promise, "All things work together for good to them that 
love God, to them that are the called according to His 



Jesus the Home Guest 227 

purpose." Let us believe that God is glorified when He 
summons one of His saints through death into life. And 
let us, with humble, grateful hearts, bow to the divine de- 
cree, and say, "The will of the Lord be done" — not as a 
cold fatalistic enactment, but as the fulfilment of a glorious 
hope. Let us have that supreme faith which put courage 
into Job's heart, as well as confidence, "Though He slay 
me, yet will I trust in Him. ' ' 

3. The loving test is followed by a loving protest, with 
its co-incident result. Jesus declared His purpose to go 
into Judea, right through the midst of His bitterest foes. 
He had left there because of their threatened violence: 
His hour had not yet come. And so His disciples said, 
"Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee: and goest 
Thou thither again ? ' ' And now, mark His answer : * i Are 
there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in 
the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of 
this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, 
because there is no light in him." Are these words dark 
to us ? They were clear to His disciples. The Jewish day 
was from sunrise to sunset: it was divided into twelve 
parts. The word "day" was also used to express a life- 
time: long or short, there were twelve hours to it. The 
Twelve Hours of Jesus were not yet spent. As He was 
divine, He knew its limit. And so He had no fear as long 
as His Twelve Hours had not run their course. He walked 
in the day: He therefore walked in the light. And as 
long as He was in the light, He was safe. But His night 
came, the dark night of Gethsemane: then they took Him 
and bound Him and crucified Him. 

"We, too, have our sunrise and sunset: the birth-date a 
settled fact, the death-date a certain fact. It is daytime 
now for you and me : the night — God only knows when its 
shadows shall fall. If Jesus could say, "I must work the 
works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night 
cometh when no man can work": surely we should be 



228 Gospel Truths 

diligent so that our life-work may be well done. In our 
temporal life, we make provision for day and night alike: 
we would not live as if there were no night. And shall 
we not provide for the night of this life? Shall we not 
make our calling and election in Christ Jesus sure, so that 
we may have the light of life? Shall we not live that 
the sunset of this mortal life shall be greeted by the sun- 
rise of that sun which never sets? I like the story of 
Moses — that last scene of his earthly life. He climbed to 
Pisgah's height; and there alone with God, he had a vision 
of the Canaan beyond swift Jordan's tide. And then he 
shut his eyes on earth and opened them on the glories of 
the Canaan above. 

This world is dark without Christ to give it light. The 
dark ages were the ages without Christ : the dark continent 
is the continent without Christ : the dark heart is the heart 
without Christ. He who says, "I am the Light of the 
world" — He is its spiritual light. And where His light 
does not shine, darkness covers the land and gross dark- 
ness the people. It is the putting out of His light that 
causes men to stumble ; it is the putting out of His light that 
causes nations to stumble. That is the trouble with our 
times. And only when the nations come out into the 
light, so that they see their sin and confess it — and re- 
penting of it, depart from it — only then will the war- 
night be swept from our skies. It is, indeed, a time for 
sackcloth and ashes! 

4. The text concludes with a loving promise: "He 
saith unto them, Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may 
awake him out of his sleep." As a matter of fact, Lazarus 
was already dead : and Jesus knew it. The figure of sleep 
to represent death is a frequent one in Old Testament 
Scripture. It was not used to deceive but to typify the 
inward reality of a dreaded fact and to take the sting 
from it. It does not refer to the soul, as some foolishly 
suppose: the doctrine of the ' 'soul-sleepers' ' has no basis 



Jesus the Home Guest 229 

here, nor anywhere else in Scripture. The body returns 
to the earth whence it came; the spirit goes to the God 
who gave it: that is the distinct teaching of Scripture; 
and that is what this verse teaches. There is, moreover, 
a still deeper thought: it is the thought that sleep is a 
temporary estate, not the eternal one. And out of this 
fact grows the loftier thought that death is but a passing 
incident ; that sooner or later the body shall rise, and body 
and soul shall enter into the eternal estate. You remem- 
ber St. Paul 's simple way of putting it : ' ' Thou fool, that 
which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." The 
gross, material part of the seed crumbles into dust: the 
germ springs into life. These bodies drop back to their 
kindred dust: the soul goes up to the God who gave it. 
It was all plain to God's people. When Jesus came to 
that Bethany home, Lazarus was in his grave. To Martha 's 
sad lament, He said, "Thy brother shall rise again." And 
when she replied, "I know that he shall rise again in the 
resurrection at the last day," this was His significant 
answer, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that be- 
lieveth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and 
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. ' ' The 
resurrection, therefore, was believed and taught. And so, 
the Jews would understand Jesus when He said, ' ' The hour 
is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall 
hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have 
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. ' ' The resur- 
rection is an assured fact. Moreover, there are two kinds 
of resurrection, and we cannot debate that fact out of 
existence. 

In His ministry, Jesus Christ did in a visible way what 
He now does, and will at last do, by His invisible might. 
He healed all manner of diseases: He does it now in 
answer to our prayer of faith. He raised the dead: He 
will do the same at the last day, when the trumpet shall 



230 Gospel Truths 

sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. And 
the raising of Lazarus is the prophecy of what shall be. 
He was brought back to temporal life — body and soul re- 
stored to the unity of their former estate: we shall be 
brought to eternal life — the spiritual body and soul united 
in their future unending estate. 

Our loved ones in the grave! Tis but the mortal part 
that slumbers there. No wars disturb their rest: trouble 
and strife can neither wake them nor keep them awake. 
Asleep in Jesus — peaceful rest! And their souls are in 
that blest abode, awaiting the happy hour when body and 
soul shall again be one, and we shall be with them at 
one and in one. Let us be patient : the sands of time are 
running fast: for some of us, the day is far spent: our 
bodies and souls will soon be summoned to dwell apart, 
till Jesus calls our sleeping dust and bids it rise. Then 
we, too, shall meet Him in the air: we, too, shall mount 
with Him in triumph to the skies : we, too, shall enter those 
mansions of eternal rest and peace. 



t>( 



XXIX 

"WE WOULD SEE JESUS" 

John 12:20-26. And there were certain Greeks 
among them that came up to- worship at the feast: 
The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Beth- 
saida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would 
see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and 
again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus an- 
swered them saying, The hour is come, that the Son of 
man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, 
it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he 
that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life 
eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and 
where I am, there shall also my servant be : if any man 
serve me, him will my Father honour. 

The people of God's covenant divided the world into 
two parts, Jews and Gentiles: Greeks, the latter were 
commonly called. The division was not based upon cul- 
ture, or commerce, or matters of state: the distinction 
was a religious one. Men were either in the kingdom of 
God or out of it: they were either Jews or Greeks. If 
they were not Jews by racial descent, and yet were in 
the Jewish Church, they were known as proselytes. The 
line, throughout, was a clean-cut one. 

It were better if we made a like cleavage. If a man 
has good moral qualities, it is the custom to call him a 
Christian, irrespective of his attitude toward Christ. A 
man is either in the Church or out of it. If he is in 
the Christian Church, he gets the Christian name: if he 
is not in the Christian Church, he has no right to the 
Christian name. A man is a citizen of the country to 
which he owes allegiance: he cannot be a citizen of two 
nations at the same time. Jew or Greek: that was the 
old dividing line. Christian or worldling, one or the 

231 



232 Gospel Truths 

other; Christian or Agnostic, one or the other; Christian 
or Culturist, one or the other: we cannot be both at the 
same time. The world distinguishes in all world alliances. 
No one takes the name of a nation unless he is a citizen 
of the same. And why should anyone be honored with 
the name of Christ, unless he lives in the fellowship of 
Christ — unless, in short, he is a member of the Communion 
of Saints? Let us be rational here as everywhere else. 

1. The text deals, first of all, with an historical Fact. 
There is an antecedent fact, however, that deserves a pass- 
ing thought. At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus had said 
to the Pharisees, "Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find 
Me ; and where I am, thither ye cannot come. ' ' And they 
said among themselves, "Will he go unto the dispersed 
among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" Of course, 
that was not His thought. But it has its prophetic side 
— its counterpart, at least. For, here, He does not seek 
the Gentiles but the Gentiles seek Him. It answers to the 
charge, the unconscious prophecy of the Pharisees, "Be- 
hold, the world is gone after Him. ' ' And then, right after 
that comes the declaration that certain Greeks made the 
request, "Sir, we would see Jesus. " 

These men were not Greek Jews — Jews that dwelt 
among the Gentiles. They were real Greeks — Gentiles who, 
no doubt, had become proselytes. Drawn into the covenant, 
they had become worshippers of God according to the Old 
Testament usage; and they went up to Jerusalem, from 
time to time, to worship in the court of the Gentiles. Such, 
at least, is the prevailing inference. At that time, there 
was one name upon the lips of the people; and these 
Greeks had heard such wonderful things about this won- 
derful personage, that it became the passion of their hearts 
to see and hear Him for themselves. So they came to 
Philip with the request, "Sir, we would see Jesus." 

We are not told whether this request was granted : and 
opinion is about evenly divided on this point. We know, 



"We Would See Jesus" 233 

however, that Jesus never turned away anyone who hon- 
estly sought His presence. He scorned Herod, because that 
crafty prince wanted to see a miracle for the astonishment 
it would create. But under all proper circumstances, He 
responded as meekly as a servant. And if these Greeks 
had a sincere desire to see Jesus, and reverently approached 
Him through two of His disciples, we should like to feel 
that, somehow, Jesus satisfied the hunger of their hearts. 
As to the outcome, however, we do not know; for there 
is no record of it. But, on the part of Jesus, there was 
a definite result. And that brings us to the second part 
of our text. 

2. The significance of the Fact. " And Jesus answered 
them" — the disciples and the Greeks alike, if we assume 
their presence — "The hour is come that the Son of man 
should be glorified." The glorification of Jesus Christ: 
His family had been impatient of it; His friends had 
longed for it and urged it; but His hour had not yet 
come. Here, however, there is a foretaste of it. And it 
comes, not from His own people, not from those who were 
foremost in the Temple service : it came from the Gentiles. 
It was an earnest of the promise, "Ask of Me, and I 
shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance." It 
calls to mind the word of prophecy, "In that day, there 
shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign 
of the people: to it shall the Gentiles seek; and His rest 
shall be glorious. " It is a foretaste of that double promise, 
"The Gentiles shall come to thy light: the forces of the 
Gentiles shall come unto thee." 

But there is a sad intervening fact of deepest signifi- 
cance. It is His rejection by the Jews, which involved 
the sacrifice of His life: it is this that was antecedent to 
His acceptance on the part of the Gentiles. And Jesus 
knew it. And so He said, "Except a corn of wheat fall 
into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, 
it bringeth forth much fruit." It is the law of nature 



234 Gospel Truths 

applied to the realm of grace. The seed loses its own 
life to give greater life. The death of the seed is the life 
of the plant. The death of Christ is the life of the Church 
which springs from it. In the case of the plant, it is 
natural law working up into natural life : it is the irre- 
sistible force of nature expressing itself in a visible fact. 
In the case of Jesus, it is the act of His own free will 
manifesting itself in the mystery of divine Love. As Law 
is the motive-power in the death of the seed and the life 
of the plant ; so Love is the motive-power in the death of 
Christ and the spiritual life of those who become His dis- 
ciples. And so we have in the sphere of nature a type 
of the mystery of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. It makes 
plain alike to Jew and Gentile the principle that under- 
lies the atonement. That is why I take to the idea that 
those Greeks were present : the figure fits their mental state. 

Assuming their presence, mark the skill of the Master, 
as He adapts His figures to those whom He addresses. 
When He would make plain to Nicodemus the great fact 
of His vicarious atonement, He speaks to him as a man 
versed in the history of his people; and He says, "For 
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever beiieveth 
in Him should not perish but have eternal life." But 
when He would make this same fact plain to these Greeks 
— these children of nature — He does not turn to the His- 
tory of God's people, as in the former case: He turns 
to a great well-known fact of physical life, ' ' Except a corn 
of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; 
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit/ ' The fact is 
the same — the deep underlying thought — the figures to 
illustrate it are different to suit the mental attitude of 
those to whom He would make plain the mysteries of His 
Love. 

The Master does not stop at that point. The prin- 
ciples of self-sacrificing love which passes through death 



"We Would See Jesus" 235 

into life, is the principle upon which His disciples must 
act. And here He drops figure and states plain fact : ' ' He 
that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his 
life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal." The 
man who loves this temporal life, with its temporalities — 
who sets his whole affection there — shall lose his soul, the 
real life, the life that abides. But the man who makes 
his world-interests take second place, who treats them as 
if he held them in hate, and who gives his great thought 
and concern to his spiritual interests : that man shall have 
eternal life. And what if he lose all of this life, the pass- 
ing pleasures and profits that pertain to it, if only at last 
he gains all heaven by the sacrifice! The soul and its 
salvation first; the body with its interests last! That is 
the way Christ would have it. 

One step more. It involves the blessed alternative im- 
plied in the closing verse: "If any man serve Me, let 
him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My 
servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father 
honour." There is a depth of meaning here. It is easy 
to follow Christ as He marches in triumph down the moun- 
tain side, amid the Hosannas of the multitude. But when 
He bends beneath the scourge; when they nail His hands 
and feet to the accursed tree, it is not in human nature to 
share in His suffering and shame. But that is what is 
involved here. "If any man serve Me, let him follow 
Me." "And where I am" — in the humiliation of the 
scourge, in the suffering of the Cross, in the triumph of 
the Resurrection, and in the glories of the second Advent 
■ — everywhere — ' ' there shall also My servant be. ' ' In other 
words, He will follow Me through the darkness out into 
the eternal light. And this fact has a deeper significance 
if we assume that these Greeks heard this mysterious state- 
ment. For the Greek conception of human life was based, 
not on "self-denial and sacrifice, but on self-indulgence 
and enjoyment." 



236 Gospel Truths 

3. We have stated the historical Fact ; we have looked 
into the significance of that Fact ; let us now be as diligent 
in finding some pertinent lessons based upon it. These men 
said, "Sir, we would see Jesus." How big a vision did 
they get? I do not imagine it was very large. They 
must have had but a vague conception of Jesus and His 
love. They saw a man, and nothing more. The Greek 
mind could not well get beyond it. And the Greek mind 
of our time — the Greek culture — sees only the human side 
of Christ. The true disciple-view is a different one. It 
is Thomas-like: it says, "My Lord and My God." It is 
John-like : it says, * * This is the true God and eternal life. 7 ' 
It is Paul-like: it declares that Christ is over all, "God 
blessed for ever." And that suggests another thought: 
We see Jesus according to the need of our lives. At one 
time, He is the Good Shepherd ; and we gladly follow Him 
into the green pastures. At another time, He is the Vine; 
and as branches, we draw from Him the life that ever 
lives. Now we own Him as the Door, through which we 
have access to the throne of grace : now we rejoice in Him 
as the Bock upon which we build the whole fabric of our 
lives. And once again, He is all these in one. We would 
see Jesus: we shall see Him in all the fulness of His life 
and of His love, if we get the complete view that the Bible 
gives. 

This on man's part: but is there nothing on the part 
of Christ? When Andrew and Philip came to Jesus and 
told Him that there were some Greeks present who would 
like to see Him, mark the effect : 1 1 The hour is come that 
the Son of man should be glorified." Could these Greeks 
have anticipated it? Did they realize the joy they put 
into His heart? And did He rejoice simply because a 
couple of Gentiles sought His presence? At the break of 
springtide, we see a little bud bursting into life, a little 
blossom opening to the sunshine ; and we shout the happi- 
ness of our hearts, "Spring is here!" Is it the solitary 



"We Would See Jesus" 237 

bud and the solitary blossom that fills us with joy? They 
are the signs of the coming harvest — the rich fruitage, 
the lavish supplies that shall make glad every living crea- 
ture. And what did Jesus see? Three or four Gentiles? 
a bud, a blossom, — nothing more? He saw the glorious 
fruitage. Gentile Europe swept into the Kingdom of 
Christ : Gentile America swept into the Kingdom of Christ : 
Gentile India, China, Japan, falling at His feet and sing- 
ing, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." 

One more thought right here: The age is crazy over 
mass-force. Everything must be done on a large scale. The 
only true unit, men think, is the multitude. And whatever 
does not start out large, isn't worth while. Is that true? 
Nothing could be farther from the truth. It doesn't take 
a thousand birds to tell us that spring is here: a single 
note from the robin will do it. It doesn't take a blizzard 
to tell us that winter is come: a single snow-flake will 
proclaim it. Everything in this world starts on the small- 
est possible scale. It is the potentiality of the seed-germ 
— not the size of the seed — that determines the size of the 
tree. The Church has grown till it covers the face of 
the earth, because the almightiness of God is in it. The 
growth of a congregation depends upon the same principle. 
"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the 
Lord of Hosts. ' ' Your Christian life and mine starts out 
with the life principle of the Baptismal Covenant ; and by 
God's ordination, it will develop into the sublimities of 
every Christian gift and grace, if we do not choke the 
seed or freeze it out of our hearts. 

The appeal of these Greeks cannot but touch our hearts, 
"Sir, we would see Jesus." It is the cry of a lost race. 
It is the cry of those who live in lands of darkness. It 
is the unconscious cry of every unregenerate heart. And 
right here where we live, the appeal comes to you and 
me, not, perhaps, by open request, but by the evident 
wants and desires of those whom we meet in our homes 



238 Gospel Truths 

or pass on the wayside. There is the unsettled thought, 
the languishing spirit, the restless tossing of the weary- 
life. There is something lacking, something longed-for, 
something after which men grope. There is an emptiness 
of heart, and they do not know what will fill it. Let us 
do better even than Philip and Andrew: let us not wait 
for people to come to us and say, "Sir, we would see 
Jesus.' ' May we rather go to them and say, "Let us lead 
you to Jesus." Have you ever done it? If not, lead some 
one to the Lord 's House, next Sunday, who has never been 
there before; and the heart of Jesus will rejoice. 



XXX 

THE TROUBLED HEART 

John 14:1-3. Let not your heart be troubled: ye 
believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's 
house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there 
ye may be also. 

The sympathetic side of the life of Christ: it is this 
that brings Jesus so near the human heart. When we 
remember that He lived two thousand years ago, we do 
not think of the chasm of time. When we recall that He 
labored ten thousand miles away, we do not think of the 
stretch of space. He seems to belong to our age: He 
seems to belong right here. Every life has a claim upon 
His presence and participates in it — every life that is united 
to Him in the living fellowship of love. And what He 
said so long ago in that far-away land, comes as a per- 
sonal message to you and me. No other man spake thus 
to the human heart. And does not this fact create the 
conviction, as well as satisfy it, that He is the Omnipo- 
tent One — the One ever-present! 

The sympathetic side of the life of Christ: how He 
manifested it those last days of fellowship with His dis- 
ciples! He knew the awful alternative that was morally 
impossible for Him to escape: for He was the appointed 
Sacrifice. And now the hour had come: how shall He 
meet it? Aye, how did He meet it? Tney were in the 
chamber where that last Passover was kept — He and His 
disciples. The supper was ended: the Holy Sacrament 
was instituted in its place : and now they must be strength- 
ened for the coming conflict. He gave them the watch- 

239 



240 Gospel Truths 

word of the Christian life, "Love": "A new command- 
ment I give unto you, that ye love one another; by this 
shall all men know that ye are My disciples." And then 
He takes up that matchless discourse before He enters 
Gethsemane. The solemn hush of an impending fate was 
upon their hearts; the midnight hour added its sanctity 
to the scene; and in the stillness that all but stopped the 
pulse, the Saviour's voice came low and sweet, "Let not 
your heart be troubled : ye believe in God ; believe also In 
Me. In My Father 's house are many mansions : if it were 
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place 
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I 
will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where 
I am, there ye may be also." The comfort that Christ 
gives: how desolate must be the heart that does not have 
it! The chaos of the soul: how awful the thought! 

There are several things that enter into this text. An 
appeal, a fact on which Jesus bases it, an added appeal, 
a blessed prospect, a glorious promise : then rest and peace, 
the peace that passeth knowledge, the soul's eternal rest 
— all this is implied here. And we are met to fill our 
hearts and minds with this blessed message, to get the 
comfort it is designed to give. May our spirits be in tune 
with it! 

1. "Let not your heart be troubled." A troubled 
heart — who does not have it ? It is the universal lot ; and 
there is no earth-cure for it. We must look to a divine 
source: we find it in Christ. He bases His appeal on an 
eternal certitude, "Ye believe in God." And the man 
who believes in God cannot stop there. The fact of God 
leads on to the fact of Christ: hence the appeal, "Believe 
also in Me." Jesus everywhere joins His name with God: 
"This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only 
True God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." "Ye 
believe in God." Belief in God is the basis of belief in 
Christ. When a man tells me that he believes in "a God," 



The Troubled Heart 241 

I am satisfied that he is a heathen at heart: he does not 
know the God of whom Jesus spake. The God of Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Old Testament 
Scriptures: that is the God in whom we believe; and be- 
lieving in Him, we believe in Christ. You may set it 
down as a settled fact, aside from the remnant of the 
chosen race, that the man who does not believe in the 
Christ of Scripture does not believe in the God of Scrip- 
ture. He simply believes in "a God," but not the God 
who spake by the mouth of Moses. 

And the man who believes in God and in Jesus Christ 
whom God hath sent, why should his heart be troubled? 
Take the case before us. The disciples had been told that 
their Master should be betrayed and scourged and cruci- 
fied. That surely were enough to trouble their hearts; 
and that is why Jesus said, "Because I have told you 
these things, sorrow hath filled your hearts." "But I will 
see you again, and your heart shall rejoice." And shall 
it be otherwise with us ? Take two divine attributes : God 
is infinite in power; God is infinite in love. Let us stop 
right there: Infinite Power, Infinite Love. In His power, 
He can carry us safely through all our troubles: in His 
love, He will do it. What is lacking? Nothing on God's 
part. The lack lies in us: we fall short in trust. And 
it is this that gives point to the appeal of Christ, "Ye 
believe in God; believe also in Me." Trust Me! Pain? 
Yes; we shall have pain, but we shall have grace to bear 
it. Sorrows? Yes; sorrows shall come as they came be- 
fore, but the comforts of Christ will be there to draw 
the pain from the wounded spirit. Faith in God; Faith 
in Christ, whom God hath sent: this is the gift of grace 
that calms the troubled heart. 

2. "Let not your heart be troubled." The very per- 
son of Christ, His appeal and promise, should be sufficient 
for His disciples. He would, however, give them added 
assurance. And so, He would have them lift up their 

16 



242 Gospel Truths 

eyes and look beyond the Cross with all its suffering and 
shame. And what a vision they now get : ' ' In My Father's 
house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have 
told you. I go to prepare a place for you." The Cross, 
therefore, was but a passing incident. It was not the 
end of Jesus' existence: it was the means by which they 
were to enter into life. The Father's House, the mansions 
there : how shall the disciples reach that blest abode ! Not 
by works of righteousness which we have done: men can- 
not build mansions in the skies; it takes almighty power 
to do it. Poor earth-creatures: how could they prepare 
heavenly places? And what confidence could they have 
in Christ, if He were but an earth-creature like them- 
selves ? If He were but a man like themselves, He would 
but mock at their sorrows with His empty promise. For 
the promise that does not have God back of it is surely 
an empty one. 

These words have been the comfort of God's people 
ever since their first utterance. We think of the ascended 
Jesus there, the mansions made ready there, our dear kin- 
dred there. "We forget the Cross, because we know He 
wears the Crown and they live and reign in His presence. 
We forget the grave, because He has taken His place upon 
the throne, and they are with Him in those mansions of 
heavenly rest. The passing view is pushed out of thought. 
The eternal view fills mind and heart with comfort and 
peace. "In My Father's House are many mansions": it 
is this fact that gives us courage to live. If some terrible 
calamity were appointed for your life, and you knew it; 
what would be the result? You would either grow callous 
to it and court it, or you would sink in utter despair at 
the prospect. And with death before the human race, 
how do men regard it ? Some have hardened their hearts : 
they have grown callous to it. Is that the way we ap- 
proach it? We draw near to it, not in view of the grave 
and the work of dissolution that will be done there: we 



The Troubled Heart 243 

look beyond to the mansions promised by Christ; and we 
know that so many of ours are there, and that we shall 
have our home with them there. 

And what is the result ? We have comfort and patience 
in the midst of the sorest trials of life. They cannot last ; 
and when they end, all will be peace. The death the 
Saviour died, we must die: the life the Saviour lives, we 
shall live. He has gone a little before: we shall follow, 
one by one. The Father's House is large; the mansions 
are ready for us there; Jesus has gone and prepared the 
place: and then 

"Forever with the Lord; 
Amen, so let it be!" 

3. "Let not your heart be troubled.' ' There is com- 
pleteness to Jesus' promise: He will not drop out of their 
life and stay eternally out of it. He will finish His work 
here; He will make ready the mansions there; and then 
comes the promise that gives them the abiding hope, "I 
will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where 
I am, there ye may be also." That promise must have 
meant much to His disciples. His daily presence must 
surely have been the joy of their life. And that is why 
they feel so keenly His departure. But now, they are 
inspired by a great hope; and they would wait for the 
glorious appearing of their God and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Jesus would love them there as He had loved them here. 
The fellowship of love cannot die : it bridges the chasm of 
the grave. Our dear ones love there as they loved here. 
And at last it will be restored and, stript of all earthly 
defilement, it shall be renewed in the mansions above. 

The departure of Jesus took nothing out of the lives 
of His enemies: they were glad that He was dead and 
gone. The entrance of Jesus into the Father's House put 
neither comfort nor hope into their hearts. When Jesus 
says, "I go to prepare a place for you: I will come again 



244 Gospel Truths 

and receive you unto Myself," He is speaking to His dis- 
ciples, and to no one else. In order, therefore, that we 
may be encouraged by this promise, we must be in the 
number of His disciples. And as the disciples made His 
fellowship their chief delight, so must we. The Father's 
House is the Home of the soul : and the soul must find its 
purest fellowship there, in service and sermon and song 
of praise. And that fellowship must be regular and defi- 
nite. We must wait regularly upon the ministrations of 
God's House: we must participate regularly in the Holy 
Sacrament. It is a lamentable fact, and a startling one, 
that if every Church throughout the land were closed this 
day, less than half the church people would feel the loss 
of the service. It would take nothing out of their lives 
simply because the Church puts nothing into their lives. 
So much for the passing present. 

But what about that great future fact, "I will come 
again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, 
there ye may be also. ' ' The second coming of Christ, His 
coming in glory to summon His saints and take them 
home: do we dwell upon it — the best of us, the most de- 
vout? Do we delight to think of the time when, as per- 
fect spiritual existences, soul and body shall meet, unite, 
and dwell forever in God's holy presence? The glorious 
end, the grand consummation, when we and our own dear 
kindred, with the saints of every age, shall rise and ascend 
to meet the Lord as He comes to receive the ransomed of 
our race ! the rapture of it : the thrill of it ! It should 
have a place in our thoughts: our moments of solitude 
should be brightened by it; our meditation on it should 
be sweet. 

4. There is another side from which to view this sub- 
ject, and we should not forget it. The disciples of Christ 
are not to be troubled because He leaves their visible pres- 
ence. And when He comes again, they shall surely re- 
joice. But what of those who are not troubled at His 



The Troubled Heart 245 

departure: what of those when He comes? Then they 
shall be troubled; for He shall descend with ten thousand 
of His saints to execute judgment. And they shall call 
upon the mountains to fall on them, and the rocks to hide 
them from His presence: for He shall be to them a con- 
suming fire. Let us not be wise above what is written: 
let us not rebel in our hearts against it. ' ' He that despised 
Moses' Law died without mercy under two or three wit- 
nesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall 
he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the 
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath 
done despite unto the spirit of grace.' ' "Yet a little while, 
and He that shall come, will come." 

Let us turn from the picture of judgment to the pic- 
ture of love. Let us see ourselves as the disciples of Christ. 
And let us find comfort in His words, "Let not your heart 
be troubled. " Why should we worry and fret over the 
little things of life? We believe in God: we know Him 
as a loving Father through Jesus Christ. And we believe 
in Christ : He died that we might live. We believe, more- 
over, that He will do all that He has promised. When 
He tells us, "In My Father's House are many mansions," 
we believe it; for He came forth from the Father and 
was come into the world. When He tells us, "I go to prepare 
a place for you, ' ' we believe it, because He left the world 
and went unto the Father. And when He tells us, "I 
will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where 
I am, there ye may be also," we believe it, for that is 
the promise of all Scripture. 

The troubled heart — what comfort it finds in Christ! 
In the world we have tribulation: it could not be other- 
wise. "But," says Jesus, "be of good cheer, I have over- 
come the world." The little span of life will soon be past, 
and then we shall gain all we ever lost — and infinitely 
more. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; neither have 

17 



246 Gospel Truths 

entered into the heart of man the things that God hath 
prepared for them that love Him." Those mansions — 
their beauty and glory and delight: what can measure it! 
Our loved ones and ourselves united there — without a pain, 
a sorrow, a care ; none of those little weaknesses and worri- 
ments that marred our earthly lives; all the harshness of 
our natures smoothed out — each wrinkle gone — not a line 
to show the deep furrows once plowed across our earthern 
face; the fretfulness gone; nothing there that maketh a 
lie; the heart hunger, the heart thirst, no longer there! 
And in their stead, rest and peace and pleasures forever 
more! What a prospect! 

Poor troubled heart : ' ' Let not your heart be troubled. ' ' 
All too soon this troubled life will be past. Let us work 
while it is day, not worry about it. Let us make our 
calling and election in Christ Jesus sure ; and then, when 
the mansions are ready, and we are ready for the man- 
sions, Christ will come according to His promise, and take 
us home. 



XXXI 

THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES 

John 15:4-5. Abide in me, and I in you. As the 
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in 
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth 
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 

It would be intensely interesting to gather all the pas- 
sages of Scripture that illustrate the believer's relations 
to Christ and arrange them in the order that marks the 
progressive stages of the spiritual life. They are so apt, 
so suggestive: they give the abstract a concrete shape; 
they set the mystical before the eyes in bodily outline; 
and thus they prove by nature the reasonableness of the 
things of grace. When Jesus says, "I am the Vine, ye 
are the branches," He suggests a line of thought and 
quickens a conviction with respect to it, that would be 
impossible by argument. It presupposes relations of which 
we never dreamt; it hints at spiritual processes which we 
did not even suspect to exist; it drives out doubts that 
nothing else seems able to supplant. In point of effective- 
ness, they supply in our hearts and minds the place of 
miracle in the minds and hearts of the disciples. 

It would seem that Jesus would stoop to our weak- 
nesses just as He did to their weaknesses. We cannot see 
and measure His miracles : we have, indeed, the record and 
we fix our faith there. We accept them as witnesses of 
His omnipotence and love. But they do not bring us into 
living touch with His life. They are altogether objective 
— quite outside of ourselves and our experiences. It is 
otherwise when we come to the sayings of Christ. "I am 
the Good Shepherd : I know My sheep and am known of 

247 



248 Gospel Truths 

Mine." That includes you and me: it brings us into the 
living fellowship of His loving care. It marks the outward 
fellowship of the life in Christ. "I am the Vine, ye 
are the branches." There is more than the outward rela- 
tion here : it marks a vital union — His life flowing into our 
life, His life the very life of our life. When Jesus healed 
the sick, raised the dead, cast out devils ; we are, by faith, 
no more than witnesses of such scenes. But when He says 
to His disciples, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches," 
we feel the impulse and the impact as much as if He spoke 
directly to us. For we are His disciples and we claim 
our share in all His promises. And so, unlike the miracles, 
which were performed in part that we might see and be- 
lieve, these declarations of grace are spoken directly to 
our individual hearts and are expressive of the vital union 
between His life and our life. The text, therefore, has 
its distinctively personal side for you and me. 

1. This text is not for those outside of Christ : at most, 
it but warns them of their utter deadness, as branches that 
are severed from the vine. This text is, primarily, for 
those to whom Jesus can say, U I am the Vine, ye are the 
branches." And to every such one He says, " Abide in 
Me, and I in you. ' ' Abide in Christ and Christ will abide 
in you : that is what Jesus urges here. And in urging it, 
He declares Himself to be the life-principle of our life. In 
short, He declares that mystical union which is so utterly 
incomprehensible: the highest thought cannot attain unto 
it. In that prayer just before He went forth to die, Jesus 
said, "As Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee": "I 
in them and Thou in Me." What an interlocking of life! 
Christ in God and God in Christ ; Christ in man and man 
in Christ: the human life the outflow of the divine life, 
the divine life the essential principle of the human life! 
Mystery of mysteries: who shall ever solve it! 

It is all clear to the mind of God; for He established 
the relations of the spiritual life : but our poor finite minds 



The Vine and the Branches 249 

cannot grasp it. There are some things, however, that we 
can understand. We cannot understand life; but we can 
understand the workings of life. We cannot understand 
the secrets of nature — the invisible, intangible principle 
operating there; but the operations themselves are open 
to our eyes. The process of the new birth — who can fol- 
low it? "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou 
nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
cometh or whither it goeth: so is every one that is born 
of the Spirit.' ' The process is invisible; the effect is evi- 
dent. And so, when Jesus says, "Abide in Me and I 
in yon," we accept the fact; but we cannot touch the 
principle that produces the effect. We know, indeed, that 
the fact will be there as long as the fellowship is there: 
we know, too, the means of fellowship — Word and Sacra- 
ment. But the inner working is His alone who said, "Let 
there be light ; and there was light. ' ' But who knows how 
He produced it. 

2. And yet there are things that we can understand. 
We cannot see God; but we can know God, in finite 
measure, by the things He has made. We cannot see the 
vital union between the vine and the branches; but we 
know if we cut off the branches, they will bear no fruit. 
And we know how to apply this fact to our own spiritual 
lives. And that is what Jesus makes plain when He says, 
"As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide 
in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. ' J That 
is about as clear as language can make it. 

It ought not to be necessary to enlarge upon this point : 
it would not be, if men were as ready as they are to accept 
it in practical life. If yon cut off a vine whose fruit is 
in an advanced stage of development, the ripening proc- 
ess will continue. But next season there will be no fruit. 
The severed branch might say, "Behold, I ripen my fruit 
without the vine"; but the following season will prove 
the claim to be false. We are told by science that there 



250 Gospel Truths 

are stars so far distant, if they should be blotted out of 
the skies, the rays that have shot out from their surface 
would shine upon our earth for ages. When the bullet 
leaves the gun, the force ceases; but it does not stop till 
the force that sent it is spent. And the man who cuts 
himself off from the Church that he may give himself 
to what he calls the larger service of life, may advance 
for a time by the vital energy that the Church has put 
into his spirit; just as the sap, for a season, keeps the 
severed branch alive, or the propelling force of the gun 
keeps the bullet in motion till that force is spent. But 
the light of the dead star will go out in darkness, and 
the light of the soul that has become dead unto Christ 
will cease to shine. 

"As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it 
abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in 
Me. ' ' The former is a physical fact : its truth is beyond 
dispute. The latter is a spiritual fact: it must be true; 
for Jesus declares it. The man who cuts himself off from 
Christ dies just as surely as the branch dies if it is cut 
off from the vine. And no man is in true union with 
Christ who is not in the full fellowship of the Church 
of Christ. Every grape that grows on the branch grows 
there because the vine has nourished it. The truly good 
works of life are the fruit of faith in Christ. And every 
one who has true faith in Christ will keep in closest fel- 
lowship with the Church of Christ. There is a tendency, 
these times, to exalt social service above Christian fel- 
lowship. If it were not for Christian fellowship, there 
would be no social service. On the other hand, if Chris- 
tian fellowship does not lead to social service, it is a 
branch without fruit. And by social service, I do not 
mean any and every fanatical movement that storms the 
senses : I mean that spiritual force that goes out into a 
community, putting pure impulses into every part and 
lifting up into nobler spheres — a spiritual force which 



The Vine and the Branches 251 

goes out to its purpose as directly and as effectively as 
the vital force goes from the vine into the branches and 
develops the fruit there. You cannot raise grapes with 
the whip-lash or the fire-brand; and yet, there are times 
when the pruning-knife must be called into service. 

3. The next verse of the text simply adds new empha- 
sis to the one that precedes it: "He that abideth in Me, 
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." I lay 
it down as a Christian principle that we must abide in 
Christ and Christ must abide in us, if we are to be genu- 
inely fruitful in our lives. I stand by the principle of 
Scripture, as St. Paul enunciated it, "Whatsoever is not 
of faith is sin." A man may be a follower of Christ in 
works of love, and yet be an enemy of the Cross of Christ. 
And though men of that type call Him "Lord, Lord," He 
will say, "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that 
work iniquity." A good work that affects only our moral 
and social bodily life may do as much to undermine faith 
in Christ as deeds of shame. If it leads a man to say, 
' l My conduct is my Christ, ' ' though it may help the body, 
it kills the spirit. And so, whatever temporal blessing 
may follow works outside of Christ, they are not fruit 
as Christ would have us understand it. 

"He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bring- 
eth forth much fruit. ' ' The only true fruit of life, accord- 
ing to the standard of Scripture, is that which grows out 
of fellowship with Christ. Of all human works, therefore, 
that are outside of Christ, we cannot but declare, "One 
thing is needful: one thing is lacking yet." They are 
like a locomotive without steam to drive it. Oh yes, men 
•may push it along the track, if it is level and straight; 
but they soon tire of it. And if it is down-grade, they 
will likely ditch it. And men for a time may push moral 
enterprise, without Christ in the heart. But their efforts 
do not last, and they commonly wind up by smashing 
things to pieces. And so, we are driven back to the orin- 



252 Gospel Truths 

ciple that the only true fruit of life is that which grows 
out of fellowship with Christ. 

And if we have fellowship with Christ; if He is the 
Vine and we are the branches; if we abide in Him and 
He abides in us; then we must bring forth much fruit: 
it will be the moral necessity of our lives. I most sin- 
cerely believe that every work outside of Christ is written 
in dust; but I just as sincerely believe that every one 
who abides in Christ must do works worthy of Christ. 
And what shall they be ? The same in essence as He per- 
formed : the same as the disciples performed in His name. 
He went about doing good: He went out and sought ser- 
vice. And everywhere the physical and the spiritual were 
combined into one. And you and I must not sit still and 
wait for want, with hollow eye, to stagger into our pres- 
ence: we must go out upon the highways of life, with 
the kind of service and the degree of service that each 
wanderer needs and that we are gifted to supply, and 
meet the necessity as God gives us grace. If the Spirit 
of Christ is in our hearts, the love of Christ is there; 
and the love of Christ will constrain us to do in finite 
measure what He did in infinite degree. A Christless 
work has no permanent value: a workless Christ — how 
shall we define it? It is the people of the Church of 
Christ who do nothing for Christ's sake, in Christ's Name. 
What does St. Mark say? He tells us that, after the 
Ascension, the disciples "went forth, and preached every- 
where, the Lord working with them." In each and every 
one of them, we have the working Christ ; but in so many 
of His disciples of our time, we have the workless Christ. 
He wishes to work through His disciples ; but so many of 
them sit down and will not let Him do it. 

And yet He says, "He that abideth in Me, and I in 
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." If Christ is 
the life of our life, then He will be the agent of our 
activities. And just as surely as we live in His love, so 



The Vine and the Branches 253 

surely shall we perform His works of love. There are two 
kinds of fruit: the fruits of the Spirit in our lives, work- 
ing the Christian graces there; the fruits of our love in 
other lives, doing Christian service there. The one is 
passive; the other is active: the one is antecedent; the 
other is consequent. They are the halves of the Chris- 
tian sphere: they round out the Christian life. 

And now, let us turn to the last clause of the text 
for our concluding thought, ' ' Without Me, ye can do noth- 
ing.' ' Let men outside the Church project what they 
please ; as far as we associate ourselves with them in their 
service, we dare not leave Christ out of it. We cannot 
say, I will take Christ into all my church work and church 
life; but in business and social and civic work and life, 
I will enter there alone. You cannot do it: you dare not 
attempt it. You might as well say as you go forth to 
work, This belongs to my physical life, I will leave my soul 
at home. Wherever you go, the whole man goes: what- 
ever you do, the whole man does. "Without Me," says 
Christ, "ye can do nothing.' ' If Christ is your life, as 
the Apostle puts it, Christ is a part of your thought; 
Christ is a part of your word; Christ is a part of your 
act : Christ thinks and speaks and works through your life. 
He is not a mere Sunday Christ, a mere Church Christ: 
He is an every-day Christ, an every-minute Christ. And 
so, He enters into every phase of our life : work-life, social- 
life, home-life, as well as worship-life. 

And if we were conscious of this fact, and sensitive 
to it, what an uplift that would give to all our lives ! We 
abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us, the relation a 
vital one like vine and branches: shall we not pray for 
it? shall we not strive for it? shall we not cultivate it? 
Let us live so close to Christ in our Church-life, by Word 
and Sacrament, that we shall want to keep Him in all 
our world-life. 



XXXII 

QUESTIONS THAT CONDEMN 

John 21:21-22. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, 
and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, 
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
thee? follow thou me. 

These words, with the context, have puzzled Bible 
students since the day of their utterance. It is easy to 
make guesses, however wide of the mark we may come: 
it is not so easy to get at the exact sense. And the exact 
sense of Scripture is what we want. We do not care to 
deal with mere probabilities in matters that touch upon 
our soul's eternal estate. The risk is all but infinite. 

We may, however, picture the scene and draw our inf er- 
ence. We can reach a truth, if not the truth, which the 
scene suggests. There are three persons who figure here: 
Jesus and two of His disciples. Jesus had just put to 
Peter that searching question, ' ' Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou me?" And when He had uttered those other words 
which signified by what death Peter should glorify God, 
He said, "Follow Me." The other disciple was John who 
was standing, it would seem, a short distance from this 
scene. Peter turned to Jesus and said, "Lord, and what 
shall this man do?" As if he said, "What of him? What 
kind of a death shall he die? If I am to be a martyr 
for Thy sake, what kind of a martyrdom shall his be?" 
And then came the answer of the text, "If I will that 
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou 
Me." It is just at this point where we lose ourselves. 
It is plain that there is a prophecy here with respect 
to the two disciples: the death of Peter and the kind 
of death he should die; the life of John and a certain 

254: 



Questions That Condemn 255 

point to which he should live. But the fact, in John's 
case, is not so evident. He lived to see the Holy City 
in ashes: which is set as the coming of Christ in Judg- 
ment. He lived to write the Apocalypse: which is the 
crowning revelation of Scripture, and which bears the 
message of Christ, "Behold, I come" — an event which John 
saw in spirit. But it is, at most, a matter of conjecture 
as to which of these may be meant. 

The last time that Jesus met His disciples, they asked 
Him, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the 
kingdom to Israel?" Mark the answer He gave, "It is 
not for you to know the times or the seasons which the 
Father hath put in His own power." And what does 
that mean? It means that there are certain things which 
we cannot know, certain things we should not know; and 
that God has set the limit to our knowledge. And this 
incident, coupled with the text, suggests the line of thought 
I should like to follow tonight. 

1. We are prone to ask questions beyond the sphere 
of human knowledge. And God gives us the answer of 
the text, "What is that to thee?" There are people who 
would like to pry into the great creative act: they want 
to know just how this world was made. They are not 
satisfied unless they can see the physical cause back of 
the physical effect. And so, when they read the first verse 
of the Bible, "In the beginning, God created the heaven 
and the earth," they stagger at it. They are not willing 
to take God at His word. They know, indeed, what the 
Psalmist says, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens 
made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth : 
For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it 
stood fast." They know, too, what is recorded in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews on this very point, "The worlds 
were framed by the word of God, so that the things which 
are seen were not made of things that do appear." If 
that means anything, it means that the visible universe 



256 Gospel Truths 

is not evolved, by natural forces, from any pre-existent 
substance! God did not merely make invisible substance 
visible : He spake ; and where there was no substance, sub- 
stance came: He commanded; and that substance took its 
appointed form and place, and kept it. We cannot under- 
stand it: it is beyond the sphere of human knowledge. 

Why then, should we believe it? I will tell you why 
I believe it. I have such supreme confidence in God's 
infinite might, that I believe He could do anything which 
the Bible says He has done. If He could not do it, the 
attribute of Almightiness would be lacking in the divine 
nature. And then, I have such supreme confidence in the 
Scriptures, as God's Word, perfect in every line, that I 
believe He has done just what the Bible says He has done. 
That is the way the Apostle looked at it : ' ' Through Faith 
we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word 
of God." And if we have the Apostolic faith, we shall 
have the Apostolic assurance. Do you know how any- 
thing was made that God made? Do you know how God 
frames the turnip or cabbage, the rose-bush or oak-tree? 
Do you know how the food you eat becomes tooth or nail, 
hair or hide, flesh or bone ? You know absolutely nothing 
about it. And you do not stop eating because you do not 
understand it. And why should you stop believing, or 
refuse to believe, because you cannot understand how God 
made the universe? Aye, "What is that to thee?" What 
business have you or I to pry into infinite things when 
we cannot comprehend the things that are finite ? The Lord 
said to Peter, "Follow Me!" And Peter received all the 
light he needed to carry him safely through this world 
into the next. And, meantime, he was enabled to glorify 
God in his life. And we shall have a like blessed experi- 
ence, with a like blessed outcome, if we heed His voice 
when He says to us as He said to His disciples, "Take 
tip your cross and follow Me." 

2. We are prone to ask questions to no profit. And 



Questions That Condemn 257 

again we shall get the answer, "What is that to thee?" 
If the farmer knew just how this earth was made, would 
that help him to raise a better harvest? If the builder 
knew how the rocks were formed or how trees grow, would 
that help him to frame a better house ? I am fully satisfied 
on this one point — I have such supreme trust in God's 
wisdom and love — that He will keep His promise, "No 
good thing will He withhold from them that walk up- 
rightly. ' ' And if there would be any advantage in know- 
ing those things which are withheld from our sight, He 
would certainly reveal them to our eyes. And the very 
fact that He draws a veil over them should satisfy us; 
and we should confess with the Psalmist, "Such knowl- 
edge is too wonderful for me." 

When Jesus turned the water into wine, the wedding 
guests did not crowd around and inquire, "How did you 
do it?" When He fed the multitude with the loaves and 
fishes, they did not refuse to eat because they could not 
understand the miracle. The unseen process: what ad- 
vantage is there in knowing it? When Nicodemus came 
to Jesus by night, he staggered at the announcement of 
the New Birth; and he gasped in amazement, "How can 
these things be?" But Jesus did not tell him: the man 
could not have understood it. This, however, is what Jesus 
did say, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye be- 
lieve not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly 
things?" In the last analysis, the appeal is to faith and 
not to knowledge. 

The demand of Scripture is, "Repent, and be baptized 
everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the re- 
mission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost." And since I have obeyed that command, I am 
certain of the promise: I am sure of the remission of my 
sins; I am sure of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. I 
am not worrying about processes: I do not know how it 
was done: I could not understand it if I did know: but 



258 Gospel Truths 

I am just as well satisfied as if I knew all that God 
knows about it. If I plant a seed, I do not know why 
it sprouts or how it grows ; but I am confident that it will 
become all that God meant it to be, and that, in due sea- 
son, I shall get the fruit God put into its nature. It 
wouldn't grow any faster; it wouldn't blossom any sooner; 
the fruit wouldn 't be any better, by my knowing the proc- 
esses of its development — that unseen power that was hid in 
the heart of the seed and made it grow into the fulness of 
its life. And when we begin to question about the power 
of the Word, the efficacy of the Sacraments, the cleansing 
might be of the blood of Christ — the knowledge of which 
would not bring us the slightest spiritual profit, we can 
almost hear Jesus say to us, as He said to Peter, "What 
is that to thee?" 

3. We are prone to ask questions when we ought to 
act. That seems to have been the trouble here. After 
Jesus had asked three times, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou Me?" and Peter had given the answer of his heart, 
Jesus said, "Follow Me." Instead of turning and fol- 
lowing Christ, Peter turned toward John, and asked, "Lord, 
and what shall this man do ? " And then came the rebuke, 
"If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? 
follow thou Me." He makes it imperative and emphatic, 
"Follow Thou Me." It was not Peter's part to meddle 
with Christ's plan for any of the other disciples: it was 
for him to obey his Master ; and to be prompt about it. 

This trait of Peter is by no means an unnatural or 
an uncommon one. It is perfectly human to hold back 
and wait to see what the other man is going to do. Men 
like to do things by crowds: they are always ready to go 
with the multitude. The first ten names to a document 
are the most difficult to get. The first ten subscribers to 
a cause are the hardest to secure. If you can touch the 
popular pulse, the mass will rush to your side and shout 
your praise. But the cohesive quality is not there; and 



Questions That Condemn 259 

the multitude soon scatters and is gone. The only thing 
that lasts is the hold on the individual heart. If a man 
follows Christ, it matters not where his companion goes, 
he will be faithful to the very end : nothing can keep him 
from going where his Master goes, and doing what his 
Master directs. It does not mean that he is indifferent to 
his friend's welfare; but it does mean that no friendship 
is strong enough to draw him away from Christ. 

The most of us are too much influenced by what the 
other man does. If he joins the Church; we'll join it. 
If he stays out of the Church; we'll stay out of it. So 
much for the men we like. As for the men we do not 
like: if they are members of the Church, that is enough 
for us: we will have no fellowship where such men are. 
Any way you take it, it is perfectly childish to be con- 
trolled by our likes or dislikes. The real question is one 
of fellowship with Christ. And if we love Him with all 
the heart; if we respond at once to His call, "Follow Me," 
we shall not be looking around to see what kind of people 
are entering into His service. The man who is next to the 
king's throne, is he going to quit because there is someone 
else in the king's service whom he does not like? Rank 
and honor and equipage are his; and no man, no rival 
even, can cheat him out of it. And if you hold a place 
near the King's Throne — King of kings and Lord of lords 
— you will not cast off your loyal allegiance because of 
the presence, or the absence, of someone else. Aside from 
that fact, there is the personal duty and privilege to which 
you stand pledged as a disciple, and you dare not be in- 
different to it. 

I am afraid, however, that there are too few who look 
to the interests of their associates. There is a certain 
sense in which it is proper for us to ask, "Lord, and what 
shall this man do?" And Christ will not reprove us for 
asking it. "We must not only follow Christ; but we must 
try to make everyone who comes under our influence a 



260 Gospel Truths 

follower of Christ. And how shall we do it? First, and 
above all, by our manner of life. Our speech should be 
so pure, our habits should be so correct, our business-life 
or work-life, whatever it may be, should be so absolutely 
straight; the places we go, the things we do, the crowd 
with which we mingle: these should be such as to com- 
mend us under all circumstances. For the inner life is 
bound to come to the surface ; and character is written in 
letters that are very large. And then, back of that out- 
ward life, there must be the open confession of Christ. In 
times of persecution, a man might be a secret disciple of 
Christ — some timid nature. But in this age, when every 
man may do that which seems good in his own eyes, one 
who truly believes in Christ should openly confess His 
name. He should heed the call, "Follow thou Me." He 
should serve Christ in and through His Church. 

Do you tell me there are people in the Church who 
are not living as they should live? What is that to thee? 
If you know the correct Christian life, live it; and put 
such people to shame. I have no doubt that the most of 
us might lead better lives: we might be more charitable; 
we might be less critical; the spirit of envy and jealousy 
and hate may have too large a place in our hearts. But 
the Church did not put it there; the sermons from the 
pulpit do not encourage it; the doctrines of the Church 
do not foster it. The Church is no more to blame for 
the bad people that are in it than a hospital is to blame 
for the sick people that are there. Christ is in His Church ; 
and the Church in which He lives ought to be good enough 
for you and me. He would have us take our eyes off 
everybody else: He would have us fix them on Him and 
Him alone. And as to what men say or how they act, 
His answer is, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." 

The following after Christ: that is the supreme thing 
for you and me. And the way to follow Him is to be 
in His Church, living pure lives there : the way to follow 



Questions That Condemn 261 

Him is to be in His Church, receiving His Gospel into 
good and honest hearts, partaking of that Sacrament con- 
cerning which He says, "Do this in remembrance of Me," 
and living godly and soberly and righteously in all our 
lives. 



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